Skip to main content
sparse

sparse

31 5.0
Present in small numbers or amounts
  • adjective
  • /spɑrs/
translation icon : escaso
  • It's homespun clothing, antique speech patterns, sparse diet, and simple utensils.
  • sparse population
  • sparse vegetation
  • sparse data

It's a very minimal and sparse kind of generic form.

Autoplay Next

Examples

  • In others, we found the vegetation too sparse to sustain life... ...or the water supply too limited.

  • The audience was sparse.

  • I have some sparse areas right here.

  • But as I hear it now, I realize how sparse it all is.

  • You could see there is still a little bit of hair, but it's very sparse, which is just amazing.

  • It's a little sparse right now.

  • Research findings supporting this view are sparse, and some may argue they are methodologically weak.

    Academic text (1992)
  • Rhythmic figures were almost exclusively quarter notes, with a sparse number of eighth notes.

    Academic text (2011)
  • We wound up in the hills, through sparse patches of green, and some very bony sheep.

    Fiction book (1994)
  • The vegetation in the desert is sparse, with only a few scattered plants.

Synonyms

diffuse
vssparse
8 6.4

Spread out over a large area and not in one place

is used for broad, unfocused spread rather than countable low numbers
low-density
vssparse
1 4.3

A space that has little material or few people

focuses on thin arrangement in general rather than strictly per unit area
scattered
vssparse
1 3.5

Spread over a wide area and not close together

describes low overall density rather than just irregular placement
dispersed
vssparse
4.2

Spread out across a wide area

is about low density across a space rather than mere wide spread

Antonyms

585 1.0

Having a large distance between two sides and often very dense

dense
  • Specialized
42 4.2

Has a lot of matter in a small space

How Sparse

sporadic
35 7.0
sparse
31 5.0
scattered
1 3.5
thin
420 1.0
dense
9 3.2
crowded
222 1.0

Surface Forms

sparse positive
sparser comparative
sparsest superlative

Etymology

Sparse comes from an old Latin root spars- meaning 'to scatter' or 'to sprinkle', like a few drops spread far apart. So, when something is sparse, its parts are thinly spread and not close together.