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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."
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 …
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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
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
Historically, the water’s purity was singular, giving life to a watershed that flourished because of a unique paucity of nutrients, a situation that hindered the pursuit of any single species that would dominate the rest.
—Amy Green, Miami Herald, 9 Jan. 2026
Unusually, there appears to be a paucity of internal candidates, particularly after the departure of Moore, and the shock resignation of BBC News CEO Deborah Turness.
—Max Goldbart, Deadline, 9 Jan. 2026
Both teams faced the same challenge in their quest to understand how cats came to sit on mats—namely, a paucity of archaeologic evidence through time.
—Meghan Bartels, Scientific American, 27 Nov. 2025
What connects those three results is the notion that at the season's halfway mark, there appears to be a paucity of pigskin dominance across a league where teams toggle between looking superb and sliding, varying on the week.
—Andrew Greif, NBC news, 3 Nov. 2025
See All Example Sentences for paucity
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Amy Green, Miami Herald, 9 Jan. 2026
Unusually, there appears to be a paucity of internal candidates, particularly after the departure of Moore, and the shock resignation of BBC News CEO Deborah Turness.
—Max Goldbart, Deadline, 9 Jan. 2026
Both teams faced the same challenge in their quest to understand how cats came to sit on mats—namely, a paucity of archaeologic evidence through time.
—Meghan Bartels, Scientific American, 27 Nov. 2025
What connects those three results is the notion that at the season's halfway mark, there appears to be a paucity of pigskin dominance across a league where teams toggle between looking superb and sliding, varying on the week.
—Andrew Greif, NBC news, 3 Nov. 2025
See All Example Sentences for paucity
Cite this Entry
“Paucity.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/paucity. Accessed 17 Jan. 2026.
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