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What's the difference between 'rare' and 'scarce'?

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The difference is in the connotation. Scarce is about demand while rare is about supply, more or less. "Scarce" tends to relate a quantity of something to its degree of demand, and there's a partial suggestion that the item is a necessity; e. read more

"Scarce" tends to relate a quantity of something to its degree of demand, and there's a partial suggestion that the item is a necessity; e.g., "scarce" means "insufficient to meet needs." In Southern California, for instance, we would call water "scarce," but that doesn't make it rare. read more

scarce | rare | As adjectives the difference between scarce and rare is that scarce is uncommon, rare; difficult to find; insufficient to meet a demand while rare is (cooking|particularly meats) cooked very lightly, so the meat is still red (in the case of steak or beef in the general sense) or rare can be very uncommon; scarce. read more

"Scarce" is something that is rare, compared to what is needed. In the zoo, the food for the elephants might be scarce, but they still have a lot of it - just not enough considering the size of an elephants belly. read more

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