Deficient in quantity or number compared with the demand.

Roget 640: insufficient, inadequate; too little etc. 32; not enough etc. 639; unequal to; incompetent etc. (impotent) 158; weighed in the balance and found wanting;" perfunctory etc. (neglect) 460; deficient etc. (incomplete) 53; wanting, etc. v.; imperfect etc. 651; ill-furnished, ill-provided, ill-stored, ill-off.    slack, at a low ebb; empty, vacant, bare; short of, out of, destitute of, devoid of, bereft of etc. 789; denuded of; dry, drained.    unprovided, unsupplied^†, unfurnished; unreplenished, unfed^†; unstored^†, untreasured^†; empty-handed.    meager, poor, thin, scrimp, sparing, spare, stinted; starved, starving; halfstarved, famine-stricken, famished; jejune.    scant etc. (small) 32; scarce; not to be had, not to be had for love or money, not to be had at any price; scurvy; stingy etc. 819; at the end of one's tether; without resources etc. 632; in want etc. (poor) 804; in debt etc. 806.    ... show more

Roget 137: unfrequent^†, infrequent; rare, rare as a blue diamond; few etc. 103; scarce; almost unheard of, unprecedented, which has not occurred within the memory of the which has not occurred within the memory of the oldest inhabitant, not within one's previous experience; not since Adam^†.    scarce as hen's teeth; one in a million; few and far between.    ... show more

Polish: deficytowy

Only a very short time before:
— Had scarcely rung the bell when the door flew open.
— Would have scarce arrived before she would have found some excuse to leave.

synonyms: barely, hardly, just, scarcely.

Almost not:
— He was scarce sixteen years old.
— They scarcely ever used the emergency generator.

synonyms: barely, hardly, scarcely.