paucity

noun

pau·​ci·​ty ˈpȯ-sə-tē 

1

: smallness of number : fewness

2

: smallness of quantity : dearth

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Learn a Little About Paucity

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."

Synonyms

• crunch
• dearth
• deficiency
• deficit
• drought
• drouth
• failure
• famine
• inadequacy
• inadequateness
• insufficiency
• lack
• lacuna
• pinch
• poverty
• scantiness
• scarceness
• scarcity
• shortage
• undersupply
• want

Examples of paucity in a Sentence

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

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

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

a paucity of useful answers to the problem of traffic congestion at rush hour

Recent Examples on the Web

This defense of a model, which has lost its predictive power, especially at the ends of its curve speaks to the myths of economics and the paucity of tools that have predictive or even analytic power. —Vipin Bharathan, Forbes, 17 Sep. 2024

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. —Harper's Magazine, 25 June 2024

In addition to the relative paucity of U.S. students who study abroad and the obstacles that stand in the way of increasing that number, there exists another problem: a lack of curricular and socioeconomic diversity among those who do go overseas. —Sanford J. Ungar, Foreign Affairs, 16 Feb. 2016

Decades of the one-child policy have now left China with a paucity of young workers. —Milton Ezrati, Forbes, 25 Sep. 2024

Word History

Etymology

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

First Known Use

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

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Kids Definition

paucity

noun

pau·​ci·​ty ˈpȯ-sət-ē 

: smallness of number or quantity : scarcity

a paucity of experience