Meanings
comparative more sparsely · superlative most sparsely
- In a scattered or sparse manner; widely apart; thinly.
a sparsely populated region
1 more example
Troutbeck is a tiny village midway between Penrith and Keswick in a very sparsely populated part of Cumberland, and it used to be said by facetious travellers that the reason why it ever had a station at all was to give the engine a rest after it had struggled up the long and trying incline from Threlkeld.
1951 October, “Notes and News: The Harmonium at Troutbeck”, in Railway Magazine, page 709Synonyms: scantily
Synonyms & antonyms
adverbIn a scattered or sparse manner; widely apart; thinly.
Origin
Translations
Bulgarian разпръснато, нарядко
- разпръснато (razprăsnato)in a scattered or sparse manner
- нарядко (narjadko)in a scattered or sparse manner
Catalan escassament, esparsament
- escassamentin a scattered or sparse manner
- esparsamentin a scattered or sparse manner
Czech řídce, spoře
- řídcein a scattered or sparse manner
- spořein a scattered or sparse manner
Estonian hõredalt
- hõredaltin a scattered or sparse manner
Finnish harvasti, harvaan
- harvastiin a scattered or sparse manner
- harvaanin a scattered or sparse manner
Hungarian szórványosan
- szórványosanin a scattered or sparse manner
Polish rzadko
- rzadkoin a scattered or sparse manner
Spanish escasamente
- escasamentein a scattered or sparse manner
Cite this entry
sparsely. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sparsely
“sparsely.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sparsely. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “sparsely,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sparsely.
Source: sparsely on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.