Dictionary

paucity en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• [ˈpɔs.ɪ.ɾi] (Australia)
• [ˈpɑ.sɪ.ɾi] (cot-caught-merger)
• /ˈpɔs.ɪ.ti/ (Australia)
• [ˈpɔs.ɪ.ɾi] (General-American)
• (US) audio
• /ˈpɒs.ɪ.ti/ (Received-Pronunciation)
• /ˈpɔs.ɪ.ti/ (General-American)
• /ˈpɑ.sɪ.ti/ (cot-caught-merger)

Etymology

From Middle English paucete, paucite, paucyte, partly from Middle French paucité and partly from its etymon, Latin paucitās (“a small number, fewness, scarcity”), from paucus (“few, little”). Related to few.

Meanings

1. (countable, uncountable) Fewness in number; too few.
   • But when I had crossed the threshold, I was astonished at the paucity of facts to be gleaned from the inmates themselves. 1915, Anna Katharine Green, The Golden Slipper, problem 7:
   • I have always argued that despite my opposition to rail privatisation, I should be grateful that John Major won the 1992 election on a platform to sell off the railways, as otherwise my column would have disappeared given the paucity of things to write about. 2024 January 10, Christian Wolmar, “A time for change? ... just as it was back in issue 262”, in RAIL, number 1000, page 60:
   • This paucity of trains helps to explain why electrification is not planned between Paris and Belfort. 1963 January, “Beyond the Channel: France”, in Modern Railways, page 60:
   • Your tax refund might be late, owing to a paucity of number crunchers. 2006 July 13, Po Bronson, Ashley Merryman, “Uncle Sam Wants You”, in Time, archived from the original on 10 Oct 2009:
   • For sheer paucity of railway facilities, probably the record in Great Britain is held by the Scottish county of Nairn, which has about eight miles of railway and two stations—Nairn and Auldearn. 1959 October 14, “Counties with Few Stations”, in Railway Magazine, page 662:
2. (countable, uncountable) A smallness in size or amount that is insufficient; meagerness, dearth.
   • Genteel America was handicapped by meagerness of soul, thinness of temper, paucity of talent. 1976 September, Saul Bellow, Humboldt’s Gift, New York, N.Y.: Avon Books, →ISBN, page 407:
   • Now came shipwrecks and life in open boats, with the usual paucity of food. 1898, Mark Twain, At the Appetite-Cure:
   • There are also texts that present more lengthy lists, of between ten and thirty examples, and in doing so include some less common terms. But, on the whole, there is at present a paucity of information about these terms. 2018, James Lambert, “A multitude of ‘lishes’: The nomenclature of hybridity”, in English World-Wide, page 2:
   • It cannot be denied it [the chameleon] is (if not the moſt of any) a very abſtemious animall, and ſuch as by reaſon of its frigidity, paucity of bloud, and latitancy in the winter (about which time the obſervations are often made) will long ſubſist without a viſible ſuſtentation. 1650, Thomas Browne, “Of the Cameleon”, in Pseudodoxia Epidemica: […], 2nd edition, London: […] A[braham] Miller, for Edw[ard] Dod and Nath[aniel] Ekins, […], →OCLC, 3rd book, page 133:
   • Here is where the paucity of our language is made manifest. 1915, Gene Stratton-Porter, chapter 12, in Michael O'Halloran:

Forms

Synonyms

dearth (smallness in size or amount) · fewness (fewness in number) · scantiness · scarcity

Translations (51)

es poquedad (fewness in number; a small number) · sk nedostatok (smallness in size or amount) · ckb کەمی (fewness in number; a small number) · ru ску́дность (smallness in size or amount) · uk недостатність (smallness in size or amount) · de Mangel (fewness in number; a small number) · ga laghad (smallness in size or amount) · sv knapphet (fewness in number; a small number) · sk nedostatok (fewness in number; a small number) · nb knapphet (smallness in size or amount) · fi niukkuus (smallness in size or amount) · ru нехва́тка (fewness in number; a small number) · es carencia (fewness in number; a small number) · sw uchache (fewness in number; a small number) · la paucitās (smallness in size or amount) · es carestía (fewness in number; a small number) · ota قلت (fewness in number; a small number) · uk нечисленність (fewness in number; a small number) · sv fåtalighet (fewness in number; a small number) · ota قلت (smallness in size or amount) · nl gering aantal (fewness in number; a small number) · sw uhaba (fewness in number; a small number) · el έλλειψη (smallness in size or amount) · hi दुर्लभता (fewness in number; a small number) · hi अल्पता (fewness in number; a small number) · uk мала кількість (fewness in number; a small number) · nl geringheid (smallness in size or amount) · mk не́достиг (fewness in number; a small number) · uk нестача (smallness in size or amount) · pt penúria (fewness in number; a small number) · el σπανιότητα (fewness in number; a small number) · fr paucité (fewness in number; a small number) · pl niedostatek (fewness in number; a small number) · fi niukkuus (fewness in number; a small number) · la paucitās (fewness in number; a small number) · es paucidad (fewness in number; a small number) · es escasez (fewness in number; a small number) · ga laghad (fewness in number; a small number) · bg оскъдност (fewness in number; a small number) · nn knappleik (smallness in size or amount) · mk недо́статок (fewness in number; a small number) · ru недоста́точность (fewness in number; a small number) · ru малочи́сленность (fewness in number; a small number) · cs nedostatek (fewness in number; a small number) · mk о́скудност (smallness in size or amount) · es penuria (fewness in number; a small number) · bg малобройност (fewness in number; a small number) · mi ngōuruuru (fewness in number; a small number) · el ελαχιστότητα (fewness in number; a small number) · cmn 少量 (fewness in number; a small number) · de Knappheit (smallness in size or amount)