paucity

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“
MacMillan referred to the music industry as a manifestation of that paucity, the notion that music is not primarily for and about human flourishing and wellbeing but is for and about the generation of a profit.

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Definitions (6)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (2)

  1. noun Smallness of number; fewness.
  2. noun Scarcity; dearth: a paucity of natural resources.

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (2)

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Examples (50)

  • I think this paucity is owing in great measure to the natural features of the parish, which lacks the bosky brakes, the hedgerows, and young plantations so congenial to the wants of our feathered friends, who find plenty of their favourite haunts in the lower and more cultivated parts of the country. —  MY STRANGE PETS AND Other Memories of Country Life
  • He apologized for the paucity of the gift I like Sir George,' Achilles said. —  Title here
  • Ridicule factor, a self-fulfilling rationalization for the paucity of credible evidence. —  AnalogSF,June2003
  • That accounted for the paucity of detail, and undoubtedly the next day's paper would have more about it. —  Murder Can Be Fun
  • Then it went into my brain and showed me all my memories and I was surprised at both their richness and their paucity, for I had lived only fifty years and this intelligence against which I was now measured was all of humanity's collective, written memories After I could see my surroundings again, she returned, removed the gloves, and set a box of tissues next to me on a low table. —  Asimov'sSF,August2007
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Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (2)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English paucite, from Old French, from Latin paucitās, from paucus, few; see pau-1 in Indo-European roots.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. =F. paucityé =Italian paucityà, from Latin paucita(t-)s, a small number, fewness, scarcity, from paucus, few, little, = English few: see few.
 

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/ˈpɔsəti/
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