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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With one eye on tonight’s transfer deadline, the focus beforehand was the paucity of striking options available to Moyes after recent injuries to Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Armando Broja.—Patrick Boyland, The Athletic, 3 Feb. 2025 Given the paucity of income many songwriters receive from streaming services, these royalties can play an outsized role in both their career and their pocket.—Ethan Millman, Rolling Stone, 16 Jan. 2025 The surprise was how clearly it could be detected, given the paucity of data on these idiosyncratic, ultra-low-turnout elections.—The Upshot Staff, New York Times, 30 Dec. 2024 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 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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