Existing or available in inadequate or barely sufficient amount, quantity, or degree; stinted in measure, not abundant. Said of commodities, esp…

Of the members of a collective group or class: Not numerous or abundant; scarce, rare, few, scanty. Opposed to thick, adj. 5. Obsolete.

Esp. of a thing or things not regarded as members of a class or type: occurring infrequently… Originally of material objects: placed or stationed…

Sown or planted thinly; literal said of plants, or a crop; figurative scattered at wide intervals, scarce; also, of a field or territory: scantily…

Existing or present in small or insufficient quantity; not abundant. †Of wind: = scarce, adj. 1b.

Occurring or met with at wide distances apart; not plentiful; rather few and far between.

figurative. Reduced to or comprising only the basic or essential elements of something; sparse, basic, simple, minimal.

Characterized by sparseness or scantiness.