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
Recent Examples on the WebIt’s not lost on many scientists, here and abroad, that the paucity of data coming out of the U.S. is not dissimilar to the limited information flow out of China in the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic — a situation the U.S and other governments complained about loudly at the time.—Helen Branswell, STAT, 5 June 2024 That process was complicated by the lack of comparable data, both because of the paucity of Negro Leagues statistics and the difference in their season length compared to the MLB.—Rachel Treisman, NPR, 29 May 2024 Growing up in Lincoln Heights and neighboring El Sereno, where his family settled after immigrating from Mexico in 1969, Marez experienced this paucity firsthand.—Claire O’Callahan, Los Angeles Times, 20 May 2024 This is probably due in part to the paucity of charging stations in Maryland, the lengthy charging time per vehicle and the demonstrated low range of electric vehicles in cold weather months.—Chris West, Baltimore Sun, 29 Apr. 2024 See all Example Sentences for paucity
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'paucity.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Word History
Etymology
Middle English paucite, from Latin paucitat-, paucitas, from paucus little — more at few
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