paucity

pau·ci·ty

noun \ˈpȯ-sə-tē\

Definition of PAUCITY

1

: smallness of number : fewness

2

: smallness of quantity : dearth

Examples of PAUCITY

1. <a paucity of useful answers to the problem of traffic congestion at rush hour>
2. If you had one of those Yugoslav names with a paucity of vowels, you might sprinkle in a few … —Calvin Trillin, Time, 22 May 2000
3. For 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, 1999
4. This relative paucity of freeloaders and deadbeats means that rookie Americans, as a group, more than pay their way. —Jaclyn Fierman, Fortune, 9 Aug. 1993

Origin of PAUCITY

Middle English paucite, from Latin paucitat-, paucitas, from paucus little — more at few

First Known Use: 15th century

Related to PAUCITY

Synonyms: crunch, dearth, deficit, drought (also drouth), failure, famine, inadequacy, inadequateness, insufficiency, lack, lacuna, deficiency, pinch, poverty, scantiness, scarceness, scarcity, shortage, undersupply, want

Antonyms: abundance, adequacy, amplitude, opulence, plenitude, plenty, sufficiency, wealth

Related Words: absence, omission; meagerness, poorness, skimpiness; necessity, need, privation

Near Antonyms: bountifulness, copiousness; excess, overabundance, oversupply, surfeit, surplus

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