Adjective

• S: (adj) scarce (deficient in quantity or number compared with the demand) "fresh vegetables were scarce during the drought"

Adverb

• S: (adv) barely, hardly, just, scarcely, scarce (only a very short time before) "we hardly knew them"; "had scarcely rung the bell when the door flew open"; "would have scarce arrived before she would have found some excuse to leave"- W.B.Yeats
• S: (adv) hardly, scarcely, barely, scarce (almost not) "he hardly ever goes fishing"; "he was scarce sixteen years old"; "they scarcely ever used the emergency generator"; "I can hardly hear what she is saying"; "she barely seemed to notice him"; "we were so far back in the theater, we could barely read the subtitles"