as in shortage
a falling short of an essential or desirable amount or number
a paucity of useful answers to the problem of traffic congestion at rush hour
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Recent Examples of paucity
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
But the indictments are startling for their paucity compared with the charges described in Patel’s boasts.
—Sally Jenkins, The Atlantic, 26 Oct. 2025
Rather, her photos, documents and collages point to the extreme paucity of surviving evidence and the utter impossibility of a cohesive, factual narrative.
—Literary Hub, 21 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for paucity
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
But the indictments are startling for their paucity compared with the charges described in Patel’s boasts.
—Sally Jenkins, The Atlantic, 26 Oct. 2025
Rather, her photos, documents and collages point to the extreme paucity of surviving evidence and the utter impossibility of a cohesive, factual narrative.
—Literary Hub, 21 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for paucity
Recent Examples of Synonyms for paucity
Noun
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In this city of 20 million people, the Delhi Water Board said last Thursday that 43 neighborhoods – home to about two million people – had been affected by water shortages.—
Rhea Mogul,
CNN Money,
1 Feb. 2026
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Critics argue the violence and staffing shortages that have long plagued Los Padrinos have spread and are now destabilizing other facilities.—
Jason Henry,
Daily News,
1 Feb. 2026
Noun
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There has been a lack of clarity about how long Putin had promised to observe a pause on power grid attacks.—
Arkansas Online,
Arkansas Online,
5 Feb. 2026
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Cuban officials have said existing US economic sanctions are largely to blame for the country’s ailing energy sector, although critics also fault a lack of government investment in infrastructure.—
Bianna Golodryga,
CNN Money,
5 Feb. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Paucity.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/paucity. Accessed 7 Feb. 2026.
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