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
Looking to grow your vocabulary? Check out this interactive, curated word list from our team of English language specialists at Vocabulary.com – one of over 17,000 lists we've built to help learners worldwide!
Where the Red Fern Grows
Interested in learning more words like this one? Our team at Vocabulary.com has got you covered! You can review flashcards, quiz yourself, practice spelling, and more – and it's all completely free to use!
Beowulf: A New Telling
Want to remember this word for good? Start your learning journey today with our library of interactive, themed word lists built by the experts at Vocabulary.com – we'll help you make the most of your study time!
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:
But when Walker and Auen plunge our cipher, Béatrice, into the world of sparse electrostatic video, the result is both harrowing and unbelievably beautiful.
From Salon ● Sep. 7, 2026
If USC had maintained its traditional rivalry scheduling with Notre Dame this season, they would have sold out the Coliseum on Thanksgiving Saturday instead of subjecting a sparse August crowd to possible heatstroke.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 5, 2026
Its dry climate and sparse vegetation leave fossil-bearing rocks exposed, while its geology contains sedimentary layers of the right age to preserve dinosaur remains.
From Barron's ● Sep. 3, 2026
The decision was greeted with booing by some of the sparse crowd that remained inside the ground.
From BBC ● Aug. 29, 2026
He sat down in the armchair, and for the first time she noticed how much space there was between the furniture, how sparse her flat was, how unlived in.
From "Half of a Yellow Sun" by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
“Autumn,” while sparser, has its subjects massed at the edges, offering a connection between the verdant periods that come before and the chilly days that lay ahead.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 28, 2025
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
In contrast to conventional computing where every part of the system is always on and available to communicate with any other part all the time, activation in neuromorphic computing can be sparser.
From BBC ● Jun. 17, 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 food in the Friday bags was getting sparser, and even though he skipped supper most nights and fasted on Saturdays, there was hardly enough for Julie.
From "The Dead and the Gone" by Susan Beth Pfeffer
In this case, the error is making a call based on the sparsest of evidence.
From Scientific American ● Oct. 15, 2021
There is the couple with two daughters, known until recently by only the sparsest of details: They’d moved into the big house that replaced the old house that was razed after its original owner died.
From New York Times ● May 1, 2020
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.
