sparse


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sparse

 (spärs)
adj. spars·er, spars·est
Occurring, growing, or settled at widely spaced intervals; not thick or dense.

[Latin sparsus, past participle of spargere, to scatter.]

sparse′ly adv.
sparse′ness, spar′si·ty (spär′sĭ-tē) n.
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

sparse

(spɑːs)
adj
scattered or scanty; not dense
[C18: from Latin sparsus, from spargere to scatter]
ˈsparsely adv
ˈsparseness, ˈsparsity n
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

sparse


(spärs),
adj. spars•er, spars•est.
1. thinly scattered or distributed; not thick or dense.
2. scanty; meager.
[1715–25; < Latin sparsus, past participle of spargere to scatter, sparge]
sparse′ly, adv.
sparse′ness, spar′si•ty, n.
syn: See scanty.
Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.
ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:
Adj.1.sparse - not dense; "a thin beard"; "trees were sparse"
distributed - spread out or scattered about or divided up
Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2012 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.

sparse

adjective scattered, scarce, meagre, sporadic, few and far between, scanty Many slopes are rock fields with sparse vegetation.
thick, lavish, dense, lush, plentiful, luxuriant, crowded, numerous
Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

sparse

adjective
Conspicuously deficient in quantity, fullness, or extent:
Slang: measly.
The American Heritage® Roget's Thesaurus. Copyright © 2013, 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
Translations
مُتَفَرِّق، مُتَناثِر
řídký
sparsom
dreifîur, strjáll
retstrūcīgs

sparse

[spɑːs] ADJ (sparser (compar) (sparsest (superl))) (= thin) → escaso; (= dispersed) → disperso, esparcido; [hair] → ralo
sparse furnishingsmuebles mpl escasos
sparse populationpoca densidad f de población
Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

sparse

[ˈspɑːrs] adj [vegetation, hair, population] → clairsemé(e); [traffic] → peu abondant(e); [resources, information] → épars(e)
Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

sparse

adjspärlich; covering, vegetation alsodünn; hairdünn, schütter; furnishings, data, resourcesdürftig
Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

sparse

[spɑːs] adj (-r (comp) (-st (superl))) (vegetation, hair) → rado/a; (population) → scarso/a
Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

sparse

(spaːs) adjective
thinly scattered. sparse vegetation.
ˈsparsely adverb
ˈsparseness noun
Kernerman English Multilingual Dictionary © 2006-2013 K Dictionaries Ltd.
References in classic literature ?
The Sto-lu men show a sparse beard, the Band-lu none; and there is little hair upon the bodies of their women.
She was hidden from him by the back of her deck-chair; but he had the view of the owner of the thin, aged legs seated on the skylight, his clean-shaved cheek, his thin compressed mouth with a hollow in each corner, the sparse grey locks escaping from under the tweed cap, and curling slightly on the collar of the coat.
A sparse population and want make every man his own valet, cook, butcher and soldier, and the habit of supplying his own needs educates the body to wonderful performances.
Tulliver felt that she ought to be affected, but she was a woman of sparse tears, stout and healthy; she couldn't cry so much as her sister Pullet did, and had often felt her deficiency at funerals.
Late in the afternoon he followed a stream, milky with lime, which ran through sparse patches of rush-grass.
His hair, sparse and unkempt of growth, was as indeterminate and colorless as his complexion.
On the following morning, the horses were turned loose at the peep of day; to slake their thirst, if possible, from the dew collected on the sparse grass, here and there springing up among dry sand-banks.
The pen falters when it attempts to treat of the excellence thereof; the sober vocabulary, the sparse epithet of this narrative, are inadequate to the task; and pompous terms, jewelled, exotic phrases rise to the excited fancy.
Pepper raised his stick and silently indicated a shrub, bearing among sparse leaves a voluminous purple blossom; and at a rickety canter the last stage of the way was accomplished.
The large towns, the sparse hamlets, the wide landscape of the Cevennes, are for his books what the Rhineland is to those delightful authors, Messrs.
Old Marrow-Bone even had a bit of sparse and straggly white beard that seemed identical with the whiskers of the old man.
Not more than fifty, thatched with a sparse growth of iron-gray hair, he looked several times the age of Dowsett.