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."
If you had one of those Yugoslav names with a paucity of vowels, you might sprinkle in a few …—Calvin Trillin, Time, 22 May 2000For 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, 1999This 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 WebThere is a paucity of medical discharges, analysts and medical personnel said, underscoring the desperate need for soldiers, with the Ministry of Defense preferring to recycle the wounded rather than implementing another unpopular mobilization.—Milana Mazaeva, New York Times, 15 Feb. 2024 The figure reflects the paucity of new release titles coming into the market, a drought which should be broken with the arrival of a wash of new titles this coming weekend, in time for Chinese New Year (aka Luna New Year, aka Spring Festival).—Patrick Frater, Variety, 5 Feb. 2024 One of the knocks on the potential of electric vehicles has been the paucity of charging stations compared with the near-ubiquitous presence of gas stations.—IEEE Spectrum, 22 Jan. 2024 In fact, the Zags have a steep uphill climb due to the paucity of quality wins available on the upcoming schedule.—Jon Wilner, The Mercury News, 18 Jan. 2024 There was also a paucity of knowledge about the machine—and especially about its pneumatic controls.—Vincent Pureza, Ars Technica, 30 Mar. 2023 Many people considering an electric vehicle are turned off by their prices or the paucity of public charging stations.—Bart Ziegler, WSJ, 28 Nov. 2023 But other scientists hesitated to endorse the idea, citing the paucity of data on safety and effectiveness when all three are given at the same time.—Apoorva Mandavilli, BostonGlobe.com, 6 July 2023 Research disproves the notion that homeless people migrate to the West Coast for the weather; rather, a comparative paucity of shelter beds likely explains the more overt presence of homelessness there.—Jennifer Egan, The New Yorker, 11 Sep. 2023
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'paucity.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Word History
Etymology
Middle English paucite, from Latin paucitat-, paucitas, from paucus little — more at few
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