adj.
Pronunciation: ' spärs
Function: adjective
Inflected Form: spars · er ; spars · est
Etymology: Latin sparsus spread out, from past participle of spargere to scatter ― more at SPARK
Date: 1753
: of few and scattered elements especially : not thickly grown or settled
synonyms see MEAGER
– sparse · ly adverb
– sparse · ness noun
– spar · si · ty \ ' spär-s ə -t ē , -st ē \ noun