scanty
/ˈskanti
/adjective (scantier, scantiest)
1Small or insufficient in quantity or amount: they paid whatever they could out of their scanty wages to their families...
- Estimates of children with ADHD range from one to 20 percent, partly due to scanty evidence provided by inadequate surveys.
- Any woman now seems to be able to make such a complaint and to be believed, with incredibly scanty evidence.
- The 152 deaths on which they would be trying to contact the families of those involved were ones in which there was scanty evidence, in most cases nothing beyond a copy of the register of deaths.
Synonyms
meagre, scant, minimal, limited, modest, restricted, sparse;
tiny, small, paltry, negligible, insufficient, inadequate, deficient, sketchy, too small/little/few, not enough, poor;
thin, thinning;
scarce, in short supply, thin on the ground, few and far between
informal measly, piddling, mingy, pathetic
rare exiguous
1.1(Of clothing) revealing; skimpy: the women looked cold in their scanty bodices...
- He stands there, a pretty, slightly vacuous woman dressed in rather scanty clothing standing next to him.
- Suzie, a pretty, slightly vacuous woman dressed in rather scanty clothing, stands there.
- Teenage boys are more likely to be attracted by her scanty clothing and big guns.
Synonyms
skimpy, revealing, short, brief;
low, low-cut;
indecent
plural noun (scanties) informal
Women’s skimpy knickers or pants.A few years ago one great British institution moved from selling sensible big pants to scanties....
- He looked at her skimpy scanties and said, ‘I can't get into these.’
- Unbuckling the large silver dolphin clasp on her black leather belt and rolling down well-cut designer trousers, she reveals cream lace scanties and a flat, perfectly tanned stomach, toasted pale gold.
Derivatives
scantiness
- The scantiness of Huntington's references to Palestine provides an oddity for an analysis that focuses on conflicts among civilizations.
- Anyone who is serious about writing, reading, or teaching the short story will want to own this book, but I was disappointed by the scantiness of critical material.
- The scantiness of dress is, in this case, a marker of what the man had left behind.
Origin
Late 16th century: from scant + -y1.