different between abundance vs scarce
abundance
English
Alternative forms
- (obsolete) abundaunce
- (obsolete) habundance
- (obsolete) boundance
- (card games) abondance
Etymology
- From Middle English abundaunce, habaundance, from Old French habundance, abondance, from Latin abundantia (“fullness, plenty”), from abund? (“to overflow”). See abound.
Pronunciation
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /??b?n.dn?s/
- (US) IPA(key): /??b?n.dn?s/, /??b?n.dn?ts/, /??bn?.dn?s/
- (Malaysia, Singapore) IPA(key): /??b?n.d?nts/
Noun
abundance (countable and uncountable, plural abundances)
- A large quantity; many. [First attested around 1150 to 1350.]
- An overflowing fullness or ample sufficiency; profusion; copious supply; superfluity; plentifulness. [First attested around 1350 to 1470.]
- c. 1610?, Walter Raleigh, A Discourse of War
- It is lamentable to remember what abundance of noble blood hath been shed with small benefit to the Christian state.
- c. 1610?, Walter Raleigh, A Discourse of War
- Wealth; affluence; plentiful amount of resources. [First attested around 1350 to 1470.]
- Frequency, amount, ratio of something within a given environment or sample. [First attested in the late 19th century.]
- (card games) A bid to take nine or more tricks in solo whist. [First attested in the late 19th century.]
Usage notes
- Synonym notes: Abundance, Plenty, Exuberance. These words rise upon each other in expressing the idea of fullness.
- Plenty denotes a sufficiency to supply every want; as, plenty of food, plenty of money, etc.
- Abundance express more, and gives the idea of superfluity or excess; as, abundance of riches, an abundance of wit and humor; often, however, it only denotes plenty in a high degree.
- Exuberance rises still higher, and implies a bursting forth on every side, producing great superfluity or redundance; as, an exuberance of mirth, an exuberance of animal spirits, etc.
Synonyms
- abundation (Chester)
- (large quantity): heap, load; see also Thesaurus:lot
- (ample sufficiency): exuberance, copiousness, overflow, plenty, plenteousness, plenitude, plentitude; see also Thesaurus:excess
- (plentiful amount of resources): riches, affluence, wealth; see also Thesaurus:wealth
Related terms
- abound
- abundant
Translations
References
- abundance in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
Scots
Etymology
From Middle English abundaunce, from Old French habundance, from Latin abundantia. Equivalent to abund +? -ance.
Noun
abundance (plural abundances)
- An abundance; enough.
References
- Eagle, Andy, ed. (2016) The Online Scots Dictionary, Scots Online.
abundance From the web:
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scarce
English
Alternative forms
- scarse (obsolete)
Etymology
From Middle English scarce, skarce, scarse, scars, from Old Northern French scars, escars ("sparing, niggard, parsimonious, miserly, poor"; > French échars, Medieval Latin scarsus (“diminished, reduced”)), of uncertain origin. One theory is that it derives originally from a Late Latin *scarpsus, *excarpsus, a participle form of *excarpere (“take out”), from Latin ex- + carpere; yet the sense evolution is difficult to trace. Compare also Middle Dutch schaers (“sparing, niggard”), Middle Dutch schaers (“a pair of shears, plowshare”), scheeren (“to shear”).
Pronunciation
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /?sk??s/
- (General American) IPA(key): /?sk??s/
Adjective
scarce (comparative scarcer, superlative scarcest)
- Uncommon, rare; difficult to find; insufficient to meet a demand.
- You tell him silver is scarcer now in England, and therefore risen in value one fifth.
- (archaic) Scantily supplied (with); deficient (in); used with of.
Synonyms
- (uncommon, rare): geason, infrequent, raresome; see also Thesaurus:rare
Derived terms
Related terms
- scarcity
Translations
Adverb
scarce (not comparable)
- (now literary, archaic) Scarcely, only just.
- 1898, J. Meade Falkner, Moonfleet Chapter 4:
- Yet had I scarce set foot in the passage when I stopped, remembering how once already this same evening I had played the coward, and run home scared with my own fears.
- 1906, Alfred Noyes, The Highwayman:
- He rose upright in the stirrups; he scarce could reach her hand,
- But she loosened her hair i' the casement! His face burnt like a brand
- As the black cascade of perfume came tumbling over his breast;
- And he kissed its waves in the moonlight,
- (Oh, sweet, black waves in the moonlight!)
- 1931, William Faulkner, Sanctuary, Vintage 1993, p. 122:
- Upon the barred and slitted wall the splotched shadow of the heaven tree shuddered and pulsed monstrously in scarce any wind.
- 1969, John Cleese, Monty Python's Flying Circus:
- Well, it's scarce the replacement then, is it?
- 1898, J. Meade Falkner, Moonfleet Chapter 4:
Anagrams
- Craces, arcsec
Middle English
Noun
scarce
- Alternative form of sarse
scarce From the web:
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- what do scarce mean
- what does scarce mean
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