Definition of SCANTY

Choose the Right Synonym for scanty

meager, scanty, scant, skimpy, spare, sparse mean falling short of what is normal, necessary, or desirable. meager implies the absence of elements, qualities, or numbers necessary to a thing's richness, substance, or potency. a meager portion of meat scanty stresses insufficiency in amount, quantity, or extent. supplies too scanty to last the winter scant suggests a falling short of what is desired or desirable rather than of what is essential. in January the daylight hours are scant skimpy usually suggests niggardliness or penury as the cause of the deficiency. tacky housing developments on skimpy lots spare may suggest a slight falling short of adequacy or merely an absence of superfluity. a spare, concise style of writing sparse implies a thin scattering of units. a sparse population

Examples of scanty in a Sentence

The cheerleaders wore scanty outfits. the camera's scanty instructions left me somewhat confused

Recent Examples on the Web

Damage assessments were scanty during the night because of darkness and poor communications, but federal officials said power had been knocked out in some spots and there were early reports of flimsy structures with tin roofs sustaining damage. — Marco Ugarte, The Seattle Times, "Hurricane Willa moves inland after hitting Mexico coast," 23 Oct. 2018 For now, details on how the mechanism would work are scanty. — Laurence Norman, WSJ, "Europe’s Payment Channel to Salvage Iran Deal Faces Limits," 25 Sep. 2018 In the most recent quarter ended March 31, broadcasting was the second-smallest contributor to revenue of all Disney’s operations, and by far the smallest contributor to profit, earning a scanty $343 million in operating profit. — Michael Hiltzik, latimes.com, "Canceling 'Roseanne' may have been the easiest decision Disney ever made. Here's why," 30 May 2018 Persky then allowed photographs of wearing a scanty Halloween outfit sometime after the attack to be submitted as evidence. — Gabriel Baumgaertner, SI.com, "Brock Turner, the 'Athlete Bias,' and the Movement That Produced the Recall of Judge Aaron Persky," 6 June 2018 Discarding even the tights, the Menken wore only a scanty white blouse and shorts that came up well above her knees. — Gary Kamiya, San Francisco Chronicle, "The 19th century nude scene that took San Francisco by storm," 27 Apr. 2018 Areas farthest out received scanty deposition of the finest particles amid brackish tides, becoming grassy wetlands or saline marsh. — Richard Campanella, The Atlantic, "How Humans Sank New Orleans," 6 Feb. 2018 But his background in film is scanty, columnist Janusz Wroblewski, who covers the film industry for Polish daily Polityka, says. — Nick Holdsworth, The Hollywood Reporter, "Polish Filmmakers Concerned About New Head of Film-Financing Organization," 11 Dec. 2017 Second-and-third-tier super PACs with scanty track records and little known about them have jumped in to fill the gap. — Ashley Balcerzak, NBC News, "Mystery money floods Alabama in Senate race’s final days," 8 Dec. 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'scanty.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.