Literary notes about paucity (AI summary)
The term "paucity" is frequently used to signal a noticeable dearth or insufficiency that can profoundly influence a text’s tone or analytical impact. Authors deploy it to describe everything from an almost negligible number of results in historical movements [1] or shells in geological deposits [2] to the sparse presence of language, ideas, or even people—thereby underscoring an absence that enhances its significance [3], [4], [5]. This deliberate emphasis on scarcity, whether it pertains to measurable items like antiquities [6] or more abstract qualities such as originality or narrative detail [7], [8], allows writers to draw attention to what is missing, prompting readers to consider the implicit importance of that absence.
- This paucity of results in no way lessens the merit of the movement from the West Indies to the continent.
— from Types of Naval Officers, Drawn from the History of the British Navy by A. T. (Alfred Thayer) Mahan - The paucity of shells in such a vast deposit is not astonishing.
— from The Andes and the Amazon; Or, Across the Continent of South America by James Orton - During the same year new colonists were enrolled for Setia, the colony itself complaining of the paucity of men.
— from The History of Rome, Books 01 to 08 by Livy - I feel the paucity of language to express it, and I doubt not but that every Englishman will experience a similar difficulty.
— from Mayne Reid: A Memoir of his Life by Elizabeth Hyde Reid - All the virtuosity of style could not conceal the paucity of invention in subject matter and in the creation of real living characters.
— from The German Classics, v. 20 Masterpieces of German Literature Translated into English - Nor is the reason for this paucity of antiquities hard to find.
— from The Historians' History of the World in Twenty-Five Volumes, Volume 02 Israel, India, Persia, Phoenicia, Minor Nations of Western Asia - His fund of language being small, the paucity of his thoughts is in the same proportion.
— from Graham's Magazine, Vol. XXXVII, No. 2, August 1850 by Various - The best mental habit involves a balance between paucity and redundancy of suggestions.
— from How We Think by John Dewey
