sparsely
Americanadverb
-
in a thinly distributed way; not thickly or densely.
Michigan’s Upper Peninsula is very sparsely populated, as more than 90% of it is forested.
-
in a scanty or meager way.
It was a large kitchen, but very sparsely equipped for cooking.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of sparsely
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.
Sparsely populated, Greenland's location between North America and the Arctic makes it ideally placed for missile early warning systems and for monitoring vessels in the region.
From BBC • Jan. 11, 2026
Sparsely populated North Dakota had a particularly intense week, with the number of infections nearly doubling from 44 to 84.
From Washington Post • Jul. 13, 2020
Sparsely populated and with little in the way of industry, Goulburn Island is comprised largely of marshlands harboring an abundance of wildlife including crocodiles, fish, dugong, and turtles.
From Reuters • Mar. 23, 2015
Sparsely hung spaces at least suggest that you’re looking at art, not inventory.
From New York Times • Mar. 5, 2015
Sparsely settled, with unfrequent opportunities of communion with one another, the minds of the forest population turned naturally for their tone and direction to the capital city.
From The Life of Francis Marion by Simms, William Gilmore
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.
