paucity
[paw-si-tee]
- smallness of quantity; scarcity; scantiness: a country with a paucity of resources.
- smallness or insufficiency of number; fewness.
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Origin of paucity
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Related Words
smallness, insufficiency, dearth, paltriness, scantiness, rarity, famine, deficiency, absence, shortage, meagerness, poverty, fewness, sparseness, slenderness, sparsityExamples from the Web for paucity
Contemporary Examples
Part of that lies in the paucity of documentation of what the Vikings actually did during their raids.
Moreover, the long moratorium has resulted in a paucity of qualified experts to research firearm injuries.
Poor health care, a paucity of jobs, and a sense of instability is now taking its toll.
The paucity of women in STEM is not just a problem for New York.
A former studio chief agrees that the paucity of stars under 30 is a serious problem for the studios.
Historical Examples
So they went bobbing about in a tub, and we, with a like paucity of equipment, essayed to follow them.
Meadow GrassAlice Brown
It seemed to her that never before had there been such a paucity of monarchists.
The Martian CabalRoman Frederick Starzl
We can complain of no lack of plot or paucity of incidents in His Heart's Desire.
In spite of this paucity of clothing, there was not the least immodesty in their bearing.
Celebrated Travels and TravellersJules Verne
For some reason or other there is a paucity of woodpeckers on the Nilgiris.
Birds of the Indian HillsDouglas Dewar
paucity
- smallness of quantity; insufficiency; dearth
- smallness of number; fewness
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Word Origin
C15: from Latin paucitās scarcity, from paucus few
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for paucity
n.
late 14c., from Old French paucité (14c.) and directly from Latin paucitatem (nominative paucitas) "fewness, scarcity, a small number," from paucus "few, little," from PIE *pau-ko-, from root *pau- (1) "few, little" (cf. Latin paullus "little;" Old English feawe "few;" see few (adj.)).
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper