dearth ˈdərth noun
1. an insufficient quantity or number
2. an acute insufficiency
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The word dearth has appeared in 134 articles on NYTimes.com in the past year, including on March 18 in “Scarecrow Video Has Survived This Long. Can It Hang On?” by Laura M. Holson:
Sure, most people no longer want to trudge to the video store on a Friday night, as they once did in droves. Streaming movies are available through on-demand cable, Amazon, Apple, Netflix and many other sources. But the emphasis tends to be on current titles, or TV series. Netflix, which pioneered renting DVDs by mail and streaming, has been moving steadily into original programming, for example.
Ms. Barr worries that a dearth of vintage movies means voices from earlier generations won’t be heard. She points to hard-to-find documentaries and little-known gems by black or gay writers and directors. “Who is making decisions about what titles get seen?” she asked. “I think it is important to not lose sight of the importance of movies. They reflect culture. They are cinematic history. It is important to keep these documents.”
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