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 WebGrowing 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 That feedback is more an indictment of the relative paucity in pop culture of caregiving narratives, a situation that was featured in just one in ten TV shows in 2021, according to a study from Caring Across Generations and the Geena Davis Institute last year.—Rebecca Sun, The Hollywood Reporter, 8 May 2024 That paucity of pop hits was a minus for many viewers weighing in in the festival’s livestream chat room about not having much to sing along with.—Chris Willman, Variety, 15 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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