scarcest

Scarcest is the superlative form of the adjective scarce. It denotes the greatest degree of scarcity within a defined group and is used to indicate that something is less available or in shorter supply than all other items considered.

Formation and usage: scarce forms the comparative scarcer and the superlative scarcest. In everyday English, scarcer is often preferred for the comparative, and scarcest for the superlative when the writer wants to emphasize extreme rarity within a specified set. The word is commonly placed before a noun, as in “the scarcest resource,” or used predicatively, as in “water is scarcest during drought.”

Context and nuance: scarcest conveys a strong claim about relative scarcity, often in economic, environmental, or logistical discussions. It can describe resources, materials, opportunities, or information that are in shortest supply compared with others in the same category.

Examples: “In the arid region, water is the scarcest resource.” “Of all the metals, thorium is among the scarcest in Earth’s crust.”

Etymology: formed from the adjective scarce by adding the superlative suffix -est; related to scarcity, the noun for limited availability.

See also: scarce, scarcity, scarcity of resources, resource scarcity, lexical superlatives.