paucity

Definition from Wiktionary, a free dictionary

Jump to: navigation, search

Contents

[edit] English

[edit] Etymology

From Latin paucitas (a small number, fewness, scarcity) < paucus (few, little).

[edit] Noun

Singular
paucity

Plural
uncountable

paucity (uncountable)

  1. Fewness in number; a small number.
    • 1915, Anna Katharine Green, The Golden Slipper, problem 7:
      But when I had crossed the threshold, I was astonished at the paucity of facts to be gleaned from the inmates themselves.
    • 2006, Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman, "Uncle Sam Wants You," Time, 13 July:
      Your tax refund might be late, owing to a paucity of number crunchers.
  2. Smallness in size or amount; meagerness.
    • 1898, Mark Twain, "At the Appetite-Cure":
      Now came shipwrecks and life in open boats, with the usual paucity of food.
    • 1915, Gene Stratton-Porter, Michael O'Halloran, ch. 12:
      Here is where the paucity of our language is made manifest.

[edit] Synonyms

[edit] Translations

[edit] External links