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
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The paucity of federal data privacy protections is a stark reminder that while the candidates are addressing some of the challenges posed by developments in AI and technology more broadly, a lot still remains to be done to regulate technology in the public interest.—Anjana Susarla, Quartz, 21 Oct. 2024 The discrepancy in numbers is down to the paucity of reporting data during the conflict.—Clark Bentson, ABC News, 16 Oct. 2024 Given the paucity of available talent, Kean was afforded another opportunity and took his chance against the Israelis.—David Ferrini, Forbes, 11 Sep. 2024 Although such treatments must be prescribed and managed by medical professionals, the paucity of psychiatrists in poorer countries would not necessarily present an obstacle to making psychiatric medications more widely available.—Thomas R. Insel, Foreign Affairs, 1 Jan. 2015 See all Example Sentences for paucity
Word History
Etymology
Middle English paucite, from Latin paucitat-, paucitas, from paucus little — more at few
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