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Scanty synonyms

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scarce
Hard to find; absent or rare:
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  1. Hard to find; absent or rare:
  2. Not common; rarely seen
  3. Insufficient to meet a demand or requirement; short in supply:
meager
Thin; lean; emaciated
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  1. Thin; lean; emaciated
  2. Of poor quality or small amount; not full or rich; inadequate
  3. Having little flesh; lean.
spare
Economical in style; using simple language and a minimum of words; restrained
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  1. Economical in style; using simple language and a minimum of words; restrained
  2. Not in regular use or immediately needed; extra
  3. Free for other use; unoccupied:
few
Not many; a small number of
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  1. Not many; a small number of
  2. Being more than one but indefinitely small in number:
little
Small in force, intensity, etc.; weak
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  1. Small in force, intensity, etc.; weak
  2. Small in amount, number, or degree; not much
  3. Small in size:
small
Having been belittled; humiliated:
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  1. Having been belittled; humiliated:
  2. Limited in importance or significance; trivial:
  3. Little in size, esp. when compared with others of the same kind; not large or big; limited in size
bare
Lacking the usual or appropriate covering or clothing; naked:
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  1. Lacking the usual or appropriate covering or clothing; naked:
  2. Having no addition, adornment, or qualification:
  3. Without embellishment; unadorned; simple; plain
slender
Small in width or girth; narrow
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  1. Small in width or girth; narrow
  2. Small in amount or extent; meager:
  3. Of little force or validity; having slight foundation; feeble
narrow
With limited margin; with barely enough space, time, etc.; barely successful
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  1. With limited margin; with barely enough space, time, etc.; barely successful
  2. Limited in means; with hardly enough to live on
  3. Of small or limited width, especially in comparison with length.
thin
Having relatively little depth; of little extent from one surface or side to the opposite
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  1. Having relatively little depth; of little extent from one surface or side to the opposite
  2. Having relatively small diameter in relation to length
  3. Having little bodily flesh or fat; lean or slender.
scrimp
(Archaic) Curtailed; scanty
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  1. (Archaic) Curtailed; scanty
short
Inadequate; insufficient:
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  1. Inadequate; insufficient:
  2. Having little length; not long.
  3. Containing a large amount of shortening; flaky:
poor
Lacking material possessions; having little or no means to support oneself; needy; impoverished
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  1. Lacking material possessions; having little or no means to support oneself; needy; impoverished
  2. Eliciting or deserving pity; pitiable:
  3. Not adequate in quality or quantity; inferior:
thin
Lacking resonance or fullness; tinny:
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  1. Lacking resonance or fullness; tinny:
  2. Sparsely supplied or provided; scanty:
  3. Watery:
scant
Very little, very few.
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  1. Very little, very few.
  2. Falling short of a specific measure:
  3. Not full, large, or plentiful; scarcely sufficient; scanty; meager; not enough.
sparse
Thinly spread or distributed; not dense or crowded
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  1. Thinly spread or distributed; not dense or crowded
  2. Occurring, growing, or settled at widely spaced intervals; not thick or dense.
insufficient
Not sufficient; inadequate.
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  1. Not sufficient; inadequate.
  2. Not sufficient; not enough; inadequate
inadequate
Not adequate to fulfill a need or meet a requirement; insufficient.
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  1. Not adequate to fulfill a need or meet a requirement; insufficient.
  2. Not adequate; unequal to the purpose; insufficient; deficient; as, inadequate resources, power, conceptions, representations, etc.
  3. Not adequate; not sufficient; not equal to what is required
scrimpy
Skimpy; meager
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  1. Skimpy; meager
  2. Frugal or economical
tiny
Very small; diminutive
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  1. Very small; diminutive
  2. Extremely small:
diminutive
(Grammar) Of or being a suffix that indicates smallness or, by semantic extension, qualities such as youth, familiarity, affection, or contempt, as -let in booklet, -kin in lambkin, or -et in nymphet.
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  1. (Grammar) Of or being a suffix that indicates smallness or, by semantic extension, qualities such as youth, familiarity, affection, or contempt, as -let in booklet, -kin in lambkin, or -et in nymphet.
  2. Extremely or extraordinarily small.
  3. Much smaller than ordinary or average; very small; tiny
stingy
Stinging or capable of stinging
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  1. Stinging or capable of stinging
  2. Scanty or meager:
  3. Giving or spending reluctantly.
in-short-supply
Scarce, or difficult to find, or buy.
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  1. Scarce, or difficult to find, or buy.
skimpy
Not covering a considerable amount of the body:
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  1. Not covering a considerable amount of the body:
  2. Barely or not quite enough; somewhat less in size, fullness, etc. than is needed; scanty
  3. Small or inadequate; not generous, or of a garment, very small, light, or revealing.
measly
(Informal) Contemptibly slight, worthless, or skimpy
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  1. (Informal) Contemptibly slight, worthless, or skimpy
  2. (Slang) Contemptibly small; meager:
  3. Small in amount, contemptibly so.
exiguous
Extremely scanty; meager.
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  1. Extremely scanty; meager.
  2. Scanty; little; small; meager
meager
Having little flesh; lean.
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  1. Having little flesh; lean.
  2. Of poor quality or small amount; not full or rich; inadequate
  3. Thin; lean; emaciated
puny
(Chiefly Southern US) Sickly; ill.
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  1. (Chiefly Southern US) Sickly; ill.
  2. Of inferior size, strength, or significance; weak:
scant
Very little, very few.
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  1. Very little, very few.
  2. Not full, large, or plentiful; scarcely sufficient; scanty; meager; not enough.
  3. Inadequate in size or amount; not enough; meager
skimpy
Not covering a considerable amount of the body:
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  1. Not covering a considerable amount of the body:
  2. Small or inadequate; not generous, or of a garment, very small, light, or revealing.
  3. Barely or not quite enough; somewhat less in size, fullness, etc. than is needed; scanty
spare
Economical in style; using simple language and a minimum of words; restrained
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  1. Economical in style; using simple language and a minimum of words; restrained
  2. Not in regular use or immediately needed; extra
  3. Not fleshy; lean; thin
sparse
Thinly spread or distributed; not dense or crowded
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  1. Thinly spread or distributed; not dense or crowded
  2. Occurring, growing, or settled at widely spaced intervals; not thick or dense.
stingy
Stinging or capable of stinging
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  1. Stinging or capable of stinging
  2. Giving or spending reluctantly.
  3. Scanty or meager:
measly
(Informal) Contemptibly slight, worthless, or skimpy
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  1. (Informal) Contemptibly slight, worthless, or skimpy
  2. (Slang) Contemptibly small; meager:
  3. Small in amount, contemptibly so.

Synonym Study

  • Meager implies thinness or insufficiency and connotes a lack of that which gives something richness, vigor, strength, fullness, etc. meager cultural resources
  • Sparse applies to a scanty quantity that is thinly distributed over a wide area his sparse hair
  • Spare implies less than a sufficient amount but may connote simply lack of abundance or excess rather than hardship to live on spare rations
  • Scant is applied to a barely sufficient amount or a stinted quantity the scant attendance at the concert
  • Scanty implies an inadequacy in amount, number, quantity, etc. of something essential a scanty supply of paper
Find another word for scanty. In this page you can discover 42 synonyms, antonyms, idiomatic expressions, and related words for scanty, like: scarce, meager, spare, few, little, small, bare, slender, narrow, thin and scrimp.

Sentence Examples

  • Rain in the lower zone is scanty, and from May to January does not occur.

  • The notices of Athens during the earlier middle ages are scanty in the extreme.

  • The ruins are scanty, but the east window is preserved, and the present church incorporates remains of the ancient resthouse for pilgrims. The church has a peculiar music gallery, entered from without.

  • The rainfall is very unequally distributed: in the western part, which comes near to the limits of the rainless region of Asia, it is very scanty, and scarcely averages more than 5 in.; in the south-west the fall is more copious, sometimes exceeding 100 in.

  • The flora of Nevada, although scanty, varies greatly according to its location.

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Words that mention scanty in the Dictionary

Words near scanty in the Thesaurus