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sparse
adjective /spɑːs/
/spɑːrs/ Definition
› small in numbers or amount, often spread over a large area: a sparse population/audience sparse vegetation/woodland a sparse beard Information coming out of the disaster area is sparse.Scarce, inadequate and not enoughLacking things sparsely
/ˈspɑːs.li/
/ˈspɑːrs-/ adverb › sparsely furnished/populatedScarce, inadequate and not enoughLacking things sparseness
/ˈspɑːs.nəs/
/ˈspɑːrs-/ noun [U] (also sparsity, /ˈspɑː.sə.ti/
/ˈspɑːr.sə.t̬i/)
/ˈspɑːrs-/ adverb › sparsely furnished/populatedScarce, inadequate and not enoughLacking things sparseness
/ˈspɑːs.nəs/
/ˈspɑːrs-/ noun [U] (also sparsity, /ˈspɑː.sə.ti/
/ˈspɑːr.sə.t̬i/) (Definition of sparse adjective from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus
© Cambridge University Press)
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- Also, extra, and in addition
- Augmenting and supplementing
- Available and accessible
- Becoming and making smaller or less
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- Big and quite big
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- Enormous
- Enough
- Extremely small
- General words for size and amount
- Increasing and intensifying
- Large in number or quantity
- Masses and large amounts of things
- Maximum and minimum
- Medium-sized
- Merely and barely
- Plenty and abundant
- Small
- Small in number and quantity
- Some and quite
- Someone, anyone, no one or everyone
- Something, anything, nothing, and everything
- Things collected in lines or rings
- Things remaining
- Too much and unnecessary
- Unavailable and inaccessible
- Unlimited
- Words meaning small pieces and amounts
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SMART Thesaurus: Scarce, inadequate and not enough
Synonyms and related words:
- be at a premium idiom
- be thin on the ground idiom
- dearth noun
- deficiency noun
- deficient adjective
- insufficient adjective
- lack noun
- lack verb
- lacking adjective
- like gold dust idiom
- long on sth and short on sth idiom
- paltry adjective
- peanut noun (LITTLE MONEY)
- rarity noun
- scant adjective
- scantily adverb
- scanty adjective
- scarce adjective
- shy adjective (LESS)
- starve verb
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