sparsity
Americannoun
-
the fact or condition of being thinly scattered or distributed and not thick or dense.
The size of these rural counties and the sparsity of their populations make it more costly to administer social services.
-
the fact or quality of being small in amount or number; scantiness.
Not only is there a sparsity of rainfall in extremely arid deserts, but high evaporation rates soon remove whatever moisture it provides.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of sparsity
First recorded in 1860–65; spars(e) ( def. ) + -ity ( def. )
Explanation
Sparsity is the condition of not having enough of something. You might notice the sparsity of hair on your grandpa's head — but if you're polite, you won't bring it up. You can talk about the sparsity of grass in your brown and patchy lawn, or the sparsity of customers at your mac-and-cheese food truck. Whenever there's a shortage, a lack, or a deficiency of something, it's in a state of sparsity. Sparsity comes from the Latin sparsus, the past participle of a verb meaning "to strew or scatter."
Vocabulary lists containing sparsity
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.
Mr. Jones heightens the sense of unease with a style that favors sparsity and acoustic alertness.
From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 4, 2025
From early years of rock sparsity - pulling apart the remnants of Joy Division's post-punk gloom and David Bowie's Low era - they bloomed into late-80s indie-pop heavyweights - defined by Smith's melancholy.
From BBC • Nov. 1, 2024
They use a technique they call "hierarchical structured sparsity" to efficiently represent a wide variety of sparsity patterns that are composed of several simple sparsity patterns.
From Science Daily • Oct. 31, 2023
Military experts say the Ukrainians’ rate of shooting down missiles is good, especially given the age and sparsity of Ukraine’s equipment.
From New York Times • Oct. 11, 2022
At receptions where the sparsity of the company permits the lady of the house to be seen, she is commonly visible on a sofa, surrounded by visitors in a half- circle.
From Venetian Life by Howells, William Dean
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.
