adjective
Synonym Usage
See scanty.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Adjectives
Etymology
Origin of sparse
First recorded in 1715–25; from Latin sparsus, past participle of spargere “to scatter,” see sparge
Explanation
Something that’s sparse is thin, not dense. If you’re looking for the perfect place to build a tree house, a sparse forest is probably not your best bet. From the Latin sparsus, meaning “scattered,” we get the adjective sparse, which means “few and scattered.” Thinning hair is sparse, as is the population of an endangered species. Or a small and scattered crowd for an unpopular band. Synonyms include dispersed, infrequent, and scanty. Antonyms, on the other hand, include full, lush, and plentiful.
Vocabulary lists containing sparse
List 1
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Where the Red Fern Grows
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Beowulf: A New Telling
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
A "Great American State Fair" in the capital designed as a celebration of the country's birthday has drawn sparse crowds and widespread mockery for its empty booths.
From Barron's ● Jul. 3, 2026
And what the photos ultimately show has been school-play-level infrastructure and comically sparse attendance.
From Slate ● Jul. 1, 2026
Yet the evidence is sparse, the science still in its cradle—which may explain why she sticks to motherhood as a baseline, with fatherhood a deviation.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 19, 2026
So far, the major change is more sparse communication.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 19, 2026
The tall trees thinned out, bush and undergrowth were sparse.
From "Redwall" by Brian Jacques
The Fed released a much sparser statement summarizing recent economic developments that avoided any hint on its next move.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 17, 2026
However, Williams said, there are important differences between regions where fires erupt in forests with abundant vegetation fuel and regions like Southern California, where fires often burn through sparser shrubs and grasses.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 16, 2025
Since then, not much is known of her personal life and her film appearances have grown sparser.
From BBC ● Oct. 9, 2024
While experts had previously speculated that Gigantopithecus was driven to extinction as their preferred forest habitats became sparser, the known fossils of the ape lacked defined dates to test the idea.
From National Geographic ● Jan. 10, 2024
The trees were sparser up here, and the wind blew more vigorously, sharp gusts that tugged at her clothing and pushed her hair into her eyes.
From "A Game of Thrones" by George R.R. Martin
It’s a volcanic buildup of a song, from the sparsest ticking electronics to a hard-rock stomp to a full-scale pileup of guitars, drums and horns.
From New York Times ● Mar. 1, 2024
In this case, the error is making a call based on the sparsest of evidence.
From Scientific American ● Oct. 15, 2021
Turnouts for elections in 2014, 2015 and 2016 ranked among the sparsest in Indiana and broke local records for all-time lows.
From Washington Times ● Oct. 23, 2018
The more successful moments, at least from a purely musical standpoint, were the sparsest: a solo piano performance by John Legend, and a similarly scaled delivery by Taylor Swift, before she shifted into hair-tossing bombast.
From Chicago Tribune ● Jan. 27, 2014
It’s the sparsest bed I’ve ever seen: small and pale yellow with a sheet, a topsheet, and one pillow.
From "It’s Kind of a Funny Story" by Ned Vizzini
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
