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Paucity vs Sparse - What's the difference?

paucity | sparse |

As a noun paucity

is fewness in number; too few.

As an adjective sparse is

having widely spaced intervals.

As a verb sparse is

(obsolete) to scatter; to disperse.

paucity

English

Noun

  • Fewness in number; too few.
  • * 1915 , , 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.
  • A smallness in size or amount that is insufficient; meagerness, dearth.
  • * 1898 , , "At the Appetite-Cure":
    • Now came shipwrecks and life in open boats, with the usual paucity of food.
  • * 1915 , , Michael O'Halloran , ch. 12:
    • Here is where the paucity of our language is made manifest.

    Synonyms

    * dearth, scantiness, scarcity

    Related terms

    * (l) * (l) * (l) * (l) * (l) * (l)

    External links

    * * *

    sparse

    English

    Adjective

    (er)
  • Having widely spaced intervals.
  • Not dense; meager.

    • Related terms

    * thin out

    Derived terms

    * sparse array * sparse index * sparse matrix

    Verb

    (spars)
  • (obsolete) To scatter; to disperse.
    • (Spenser)

    Anagrams

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