adjective
sparse
SPAHRS/spɑːrs/
Few in number or spread far apart.
Sparse grass grows between the rocks on the dry hillside.
Etymology
Latin spargere supplied a participle meaning “scattered.” Sparse turns that image into a description of distribution: things spread out with considerable gaps between them, rather than densely gathered.
In context
a relatively small and very sparse office it sports four gray and featureless walls with a single monitor on a wooden desk next to a couple of cabinets
More examples
- Traffic is sparse this early in the morning.
- The report provides only sparse details about the accident.
- The trees become sparser as the trail climbs.
Forms
sparse · sparser · sparsest
sparsely adverb — With few items or wide gaps.
sparseness noun — The condition of being thinly scattered.