sparse

 Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English 5++朗文当代英语 5++LDOCE 5++朗文 5++sparse /spɑːs $ spɑːrs/ adjective  FEW/NOT MANYexisting only in small amounts 稀少的，稀疏的 his sparse brown hair 他那稀疏的棕色头发 rural areas with sparse populations 人口稀少的农村地区 —sparsely adverb a sparsely populated area 人口稀少的地区 —sparseness noun [uncountable]

Examples from the Corpus

sparse• Information on the disease is sparse.• Details of Dixon's life are sparse and sometimes contradictory.• From our sparse apartment, a daily warmth could be made to exist.• However, sunshine was a sparse commodity and we found the short, dark winter days of these latitudes very depressing at first.• Reading from an empty area of a sparse file will return garbage.• He combed back his sparse hair.• Trees are sparse in this part of the world because of the continuous wind that blows across the plains.• Driven out from richer regions, all they now had were these vast but very sparse pastures.• Agriculture in the south will suffer as underground water is exhausted and already sparse summer rain disappears.• sparse traffic• They can, therefore, exist quite happily in areas of sparse vegetation.Origin sparse (1700-1800) Latin sparsus “spread out”, from the past participle of spargere “to scatter”

sparse adjectiveChinese  

only Corpus amounts small existing in

sparse
sparse /spɑːs $ spɑːrs/ adjectiveexisting only in small amounts:
    his sparse brown hair
    rural areas with sparse populations
—sparsely adverb:
    a sparsely populated area
—sparseness noun [uncountable]

sparseBrE /spɑːs/ 🔊NAmE /spɑːrs/ 🔊 adjective (sparser, spars·est) only present in small amounts or numbers and often spread over a large area 稀少的；稀疏的；零落的◆the sparse population of the islands那些岛上零星的人口◆Vegetation becomes sparse higher up the mountains. 山上越高的地方植物越稀少。🔊🔊◆The information available on the subject is sparse. 这个题目资料匮乏。🔊🔊▸ sparse·ly BrE /ˈspɑːsli/ 🔊NAmE /ˈspɑːrsli/ 🔊 adverb◆a sparsely populated area人口稀少的地区▸ sparse·ness BrE /ˈspɑːsnəs/ 🔊NAmE /ˈspɑːrsnəs/ 🔊 noun [uncountable]