First Known Use: 15th century
Dictionary
paucity
noun pau·ci·ty \ˈpȯ-sə-tē\
: a small amount of something : an amount that is less than what is needed or wanted
Full Definition of PAUCITY
1
: smallness of number : fewness
2
: smallness of quantity : dearth
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Examples of PAUCITY
- 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
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Origin of PAUCITY
Middle English paucite, from Latin paucitat-, paucitas, from paucus little — more at few
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
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