Rare
Rare adjective - Not often occurring or repeated.
Usage example: the French pronunciation of the family's name is rare, except in Louisiana
Scarce is a synonym for rare in infrequent topic. In some cases you can use "Scarce" instead an adjective "Rare", when it comes to topics like usual, exceptional, frequency, unusual. popular alternative
Scarce
Scarce adjective - Deficient in quantity or number compared with the demand.
Usage example: fresh vegetables were scarce during the drought
Rare is a synonym for scarce in usual topic. You can use "Rare" instead an adjective "Scarce", if it concerns topics such as frequency, insufficient, unusual, infrequent. popular alternative
Mutual synonyms
Both words in one sentence
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Jango's Saberdarts will do this to almost any enemy, but the tradeoff is that their ammo is rare and scarce, and the slow firing rate leaves Jango a sitting duck for other attacks.
Source: Video Game / Bounty Hunter - Heavy snow is rare (snow of any sort is rare in cities outside of Scotland, and it's pretty scarce there too) and occurs once or twice a year.
Source: Useful Notes / British Weather -
Items that were once commonplace and cheap suddenly become rare and expensive, and resources are far more scarce.
Source: Video Game / Fallen London
Cite this Source
Scarce and Rare. (2016). Retrieved 2026, July 21, from https://thesaurus.plus/related/rare/scarce
Rare & Scarce. N.p., 2016. Web. 21 Jul. 2026. <https://thesaurus.plus/related/rare/scarce>.
Scarce or Rare. 2016. Accessed July 21, 2026. https://thesaurus.plus/related/rare/scarce.
Google Ngram Viewer shows how "rare" and "scarce" have occurred on timeline