Paucity refers to "littleness" in numbers (as in "a paucity of facts") or quantity ("a paucity of common sense"). The word comes from paucus, Latin for "little."
If you had one of those Yugoslav names with a paucity of vowels, you might sprinkle in a few …—Calvin Trillin, Time, 22 May 2000For my part, I find increasingly that I miss the simplicity, the almost willful paucity, of the English way of doing things.—Bill Bryson, I'm a Stranger Here Myself, 1999This relative paucity of freeloaders and deadbeats means that rookie Americans, as a group, more than pay their way.—Jaclyn Fierman, Fortune, 9 Aug. 1993
a paucity of useful answers to the problem of traffic congestion at rush hour
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It’s made up for some other clear deficiencies — no post game, Young’s struggles, a paucity of 3-point threats and periodic rashes of turnovers — to surprisingly keep the Hawks in the thick of the playoff race.—John Hollinger, The Athletic, 1 Jan. 2025 If so, from what? The publication of The Field Day Anthology of Irish Writing in 1991 would have been a monumental event in Irish literary history no matter what, but the criticism of its lack of women editors and its paucity of women writers created a firestorm.—Christian Wiman, Harper's Magazine, 2 Aug. 2024 Further, despite the paucity of information from the most elite schools, admissions trends at second-tier and other highly ranked schools offer revealing information about the broader admissions landscape.—Christopher Rim, Forbes, 20 Dec. 2024 The paucity of e-SAF projects in Europe has seen the airline group and its competitors venture well beyond the continent to remain on track with their low carbon emissions targets.—Gaurav Sharma, Forbes, 26 Nov. 2024 See all Example Sentences for paucity
Word History
Etymology
Middle English paucite, from Latin paucitat-, paucitas, from paucus little — more at few
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