scanty
[skan-tee]
- scant in amount, quantity, etc.; barely sufficient.
- meager; not adequate.
- lacking amplitude in extent or compass.
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- scanties, very brief underpants, especially for women.
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Origin of scanty
Synonyms
See more synonyms for scanty on Thesaurus.com1, 2. Scanty, meager, sparse refer to insufficiency or deficiency in quantity, number, etc. Scanty denotes smallness or insufficiency of quantity, number, supply, etc.: a scanty supply of food. Meager indicates that something is poor, stinted, or inadequate: meager fare; a meager income. Sparse applies particularly to that which grows thinly or is thinly strewn or sown, often over a wide area: sparse vegetation; a sparse population.
Antonyms
1, 2. plentiful, ample.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for scantily
Contemporary Examples
One is forced to ask, what on earth was Andrew doing hanging out with scantily clad teenagers?
Her book, for example, does not discuss her buzzed-about, scantily clad Maxim photo shoot from last year, and so neither do we.
'Boy Meets World' Star Danielle Fishel Is OK with Being Topanga ForeverKevin Fallon
September 11, 2014
Tell be about the scene on the sofa where you and Lady Macbeth are plotting while scantily dressed.
It features a scantily clad woman wearing a balaclava and holding a sign championing the dissident feminist anti-Putin punk band.
Miley Cyrus Twerking, Usher as Michael Jackson & More Viral VideosThe Daily Beast Video
March 30, 2013
The combination of scantily clad, attractive women and scantily clad, corpulent men makes Philip Roth's imagination look feminist.
Historical Examples
Scantily furnished, and with a waxed floor, it opened into one of the side-verandas.
End of the TetherJoseph Conrad
They were scantily furnished, and of comforts there were none.
The Crooked HouseBrandon Fleming
The bothy was but scantily furnished, though it consisted of two rooms.
Auld Licht IdyllsJ. M. Barrie
All who lived with her, though well-dressed, were scantily fed and over-worked.
ClotelleWilliam Wells Brown
We tore off parts of the clothes from our scantily clad bodies.
Land of the Burnt ThighEdith Eudora Kohl
scanty
- limited; barely enough; meagre
- insufficient; inadequate
- lacking fullness; small
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Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for scantily
scanty
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper