different between paltry vs scarce
paltry
English
Alternative forms
- (obsolete) paultry, paultrie, palterey
Etymology
From Middle Low German paltrig (“ragged, rubbishy, worthless”), from palter, palte (“cloth, rag, shred”), from Old Saxon *paltro, *palto (“cloth, rag”), from Proto-Germanic *paltrô, *paltô (“scrap, rag, patch”). Cognate with Low German palterig (“ragged, torn”), dialectal German palterig (“paltry”). Compare also Low German palte (“rag”), West Frisian palt (“rag”), Saterland Frisian Palte (“strip; band; tape”), dialectal German Palter (“rag”), Danish pjalt (“rag, tatter”), Swedish palta (“rag”). See also palterly.
Pronunciation
- (Canada) IPA(key): /?p?lt?i/
- (UK) IPA(key): /?p?lt?i/, /?p??lt?i/
- (US) IPA(key): /?p?lt?i/, /?p?lt?i/
Adjective
paltry (comparative paltrier, superlative paltriest)
- Trashy, trivial, of little value.
- Synonyms: insignificant, unimportant, petty, trivial
- Of little monetary worth.
- Synonyms: meager, worthless, pitiful, trifling
- Despicable
- A paltry coward.
Usage notes
- Nouns to which "paltry" is often applied: sum, rate, amount, number, price, salary, wages, fellow, pay, excuse, income, gain, compensation.
Derived terms
- paltriness
Translations
Anagrams
- partly, raptly
paltry 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:
- what scarce means
- what do scarce mean
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