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Narrow vs Scarce - What's the difference?

narrow | scarce | Related terms |

Narrow is a related term of scarce.


As adjectives the difference between narrow and scarce

is that narrow is having a small width; not wide; slim; slender; having opposite edges or sides that are close, especially by comparison to length or depth while scarce is uncommon, rare; difficult to find; insufficient to meet a demand.

As a verb narrow

is to reduce in width or extent; to contract.

As a noun narrow

is (chiefly|in the plural) a narrow passage, especially a contracted part of a stream, lake, or sea; a strait connecting two bodies of water.

As an adverb scarce is

scarcely, only just.

narrow

English

Adjective

(er)
  • Having a small width; not wide; slim; slender; having opposite edges or sides that are close, especially by comparison to length or depth.
  • * {{quote-book, year=1922, author=(Ben Travers), title=(A Cuckoo in the Nest)
  • , chapter=1 citation , passage=She was like a Beardsley Salome , he had said. And indeed she had the narrow eyes and the high cheekbone of that creature, and as nearly the sinuosity as is compatible with human symmetry.}}
  • * {{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham), title=(The China Governess)
  • , chapter=14 citation , passage=Just under the ceiling there were three lunette windows, heavily barred and blacked out in the normal way by centuries of grime. Their bases were on a level with the pavement outside, a narrow way which was several feet lower than the road behind the house.}}
  • * {{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=July-August, author= Catherine Clabby
  • , magazine=(American Scientist), title= Focus on Everything , passage=Not long ago, it was difficult to produce photographs of tiny creatures with every part in focus. That’s because the lenses that are excellent at magnifying tiny subjects produce a narrow depth of field. A photo processing technique called focus stacking has changed that.}}
  • Of little extent; very limited; circumscribed.
  • * Bishop Wilkins
  • The Jews were but a small nation, and confined to a narrow compass in the world.
  • (figuratively) Restrictive; without flexibility or latitude.
  • Contracted; of limited scope; illiberal; bigoted.
  • a narrow''' mind; '''narrow views
  • * Macaulay
  • a narrow understanding
  • Having a small margin or degree.
  • The Republicans won by a narrow majority.
  • * {{quote-news, year=2011, date=September 18, author=Ben Dirs
  • , title=Rugby World Cup 2011: England 41-10 Georgia, work=BBC Sport citation , passage=As in their narrow defeat of Argentina last week, England were indisciplined at the breakdown, and if Georgian fly-half Merab Kvirikashvili had remembered his kicking boots, Johnson's side might have been behind at half-time.}}
  • (dated) Limited as to means; straitened; pinching.
  • narrow circumstances
  • Parsimonious; niggardly; covetous; selfish.
  • * Smalridge
  • a very narrow and stinted charity
  • Scrutinizing in detail; close; accurate; exact.
  • * Milton
  • But first with narrow search I must walk round / This garden, and no corner leave unspied.
  • (phonetics) Formed (as a vowel) by a close position of some part of the tongue in relation to the palate; or (according to Bell) by a tense condition of the pharynx; distinguished from wide.
  • Antonyms

    * wide * broad

    Derived terms

    * narrowboat, narrow boat * narrow-minded * narrowness

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To reduce in width or extent; to contract.
  • We need to narrow the search.
  • To get narrower.
  • The road narrows .
  • (knitting) To contract the size of, as a stocking, by taking two stitches into one.
  • Synonyms
    * taper

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (chiefly, in the plural) A narrow passage, especially a contracted part of a stream, lake, or sea; a strait connecting two bodies of water.
  • the Narrows of New York harbor
  • * Gladstone
  • Near the island lay on one side the jaws of a dangerous narrow .
    1000 English basic words

    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

    *