scanty

adjective

ˈskan-tē 

scantier; scantiest

: limited or less than sufficient in degree, quantity, or extent

scantily

ˈskan-tə-lē 

adverb

scantiness

ˈskan-tē-nəs 

noun

Synonyms

• exiguous
• hand-to-mouth
• light
• meager
• meagre
• niggardly
• poor
• scant
• scarce
• skimp
• skimpy
• slender
• slim
• spare
• sparing
• sparse
• stingy

Choose the Right Synonym for scanty

meager, scanty, scant, skimpy, spare, sparse mean falling short of what is normal, necessary, or desirable.

meager implies the absence of elements, qualities, or numbers necessary to a thing's richness, substance, or potency.

a meager portion of meat

scanty stresses insufficiency in amount, quantity, or extent.

supplies too scanty to last the winter

scant suggests a falling short of what is desired or desirable rather than of what is essential.

in January the daylight hours are scant

skimpy usually suggests niggardliness or penury as the cause of the deficiency.

tacky housing developments on skimpy lots

spare may suggest a slight falling short of adequacy or merely an absence of superfluity.

a spare, concise style of writing

sparse implies a thin scattering of units.

a sparse population

Examples of scanty in a Sentence

The cheerleaders wore scanty outfits.

the camera's scanty instructions left me somewhat confused

Recent Examples on the Web

Smaller galaxies yielded even scantier quantities, with visible matter making up only about 0.05 percent of the least massive galaxies studied, Willman 1 and Segue 1. —Andrew Grant, Discover Magazine, 11 Nov. 2019

The sum total of records from the plague itself is scanty: three letters by Mompesson written in 1666, the parish’s burial register and inscriptions on graves scattered around the village. —1843, 16 Apr. 2020

When evidence was scanty, or when misconduct needed to be covered up, police routinely perjured themselves to make sure case outcomes turned out as desired. —Patrick Blanchfield, The New Republic, 31 Mar. 2020

Given the scale at which the coronavirus pandemic has wreaked havoc across the globe, India’s scanty testing network might prove to be a terrible nightmare soon. —Ananya Bhattacharya, Quartz India, 17 Mar. 2020

Word History

Etymology

English dialect scant scanty supply, from Middle English, from Old Norse skamt, from neuter of skammr short

First Known Use

1600, in the meaning defined above

Kids Definition

scanty

adjective

ˈskant-ē 

scantier; scantiest

: very small in size or amount

scanty nourishment

scanty bikinis

scantily

ˈskant-ᵊl-ē 

adverb

scantiness

ˈskant-ē-nəs 

noun