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Dear vs Scarce - What's the difference?

dear | scarce |

As adjectives the difference between dear and scarce

is that dear is loved; lovable or dear can be severe(ly affected), sore while scarce is uncommon, rare; difficult to find; insufficient to meet a demand.

As adverbs the difference between dear and scarce

is that dear is (obsolete) dearly; at a high price while scarce is scarcely, only just.

As a noun dear

is a very kind, loving person.

As a verb dear

is (obsolete) to endear.

dear

English

Etymology 1

From (etyl) dere, from (etyl) .

Adjective

(er)
  • Loved; lovable.
  • *
  • *:So this was my future home, I thought!Backed by towering hills, the but faintly discernible purple line of the French boundary off to the southwest, a sky of palest Gobelin flecked with fat, fleecy little clouds, it in truth looked a dear little city; the city of one's dreams.
  • Loving, affectionate, heartfelt
  • :
  • Precious to or greatly valued by someone.
  • :
  • High in price; expensive.
  • :
  • A formal way to start (possibly after my ) addressing somebody at the beginning of a letter, memo etc.
  • :
  • A formal way to start (often after my ) addressing somebody one likes or regards kindly.
  • :
  • *, chapter=7
    • , title= The Mirror and the Lamp , passage=“A very welcome, kind, useful present, that means to the parish. By the way, Hopkins, let this go no further. We don't want the tale running round that a rich person has arrived. Churchill, my dear fellow, we have such greedy sharks, and wolves in lamb's clothing.
  • An ironic way to start (often after my ) addressing an inferior.
  • :
  • (lb) Noble.
    • Derived terms
    * dearly * dear me * dearness

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A very kind, loving person.
    • My cousin is such a dear , always drawing me pictures.
  • A beloved person
    • Synonyms
    * (kind loving person) darling
    Derived terms
    * oh dear * the dear knows

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • (obsolete) To endear.
    • (Shelton)

    Adverb

    (en adverb)
  • (obsolete) dearly; at a high price
  • * Shakespeare
    • If thou attempt it, it will cost thee dear .

    Etymology 2

    (etyl) dere, from (etyl) . Cognate with the above

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • Severe(ly affected), sore

    • Statistics

    *

    Anagrams

    * English affectionate terms ----

    scarce

    English

    (wikipedia scarce)

    Adjective

    (er)
  • Uncommon, rare; difficult to find; insufficient to meet a demand.
  • * (John Locke)
    • You tell him silver is scarcer now in England, and therefore risen one fifth in value.
  • * , chapter=3
    • , title= Mr. Pratt's Patients , passage=My hopes wa'n't disappointed. I never saw clams thicker than they was along them inshore flats. I filled my dreener in no time, and then it come to me that 'twouldn't be a bad idee to get a lot more, take 'em with me to Wellmouth, and peddle 'em out. Clams was fairly scarce over that side of the bay and ought to fetch a fair price.}}
  • Scantily supplied (with); deficient (in); used with of .
  • * (John Milton)
    • A region scarce of prey.

    Adverb

    (-)
  • Scarcely, only just.
  • * Milton
    • With a scarce well-lighted flame.
  • * 1854 , (Edgar Allen Poe), (The Raven):
    • And so faintly you came tapping, tapping at my chamber door, That I scarce was sure that I heard you [...].
  • * 1898 , , (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.
  • * 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.

    See also

    * make oneself scarce

    Anagrams

    *