sparse

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin sparsus.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /spɑːs/
• (US) IPA^(key): /spɑːɹs/

• Audio (UK):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɑː(ɹ)s

Adjective

sparse (comparative sparser, superlative sparsest)

1. Having widely spaced intervals.

   a sparse array, index, or matrix

   • 2019 October, Tony Miles, Philip Sherratt, “EMR kicks off new era”, in Modern Railways, page 58:

     The Leicester to Grimsby service will become hourly throughout (with some extensions to Cleethorpes as at present), while a new hourly Peterborough to Doncaster service via Spalding, Sleaford and Lincoln will join up two routes with a sparse service at present.

2. Not dense; meager; scanty
3. (mathematics) Having few nonzero elements

Synonyms

• (having widely spaced intervals): spread out, thin; see also Thesaurus:diffuse
• (meager): insufficient, paltry; see also Thesaurus:inadequate

Derived terms

• sparse array
• sparsely
• sparsen
• sparse table
• sparsification
• sparsity

Related terms

• sparge

Translations

having widely spaced intervals

Afrikaans: yl Albanian: shpërndarë (sq) Assamese: তাকৰীয়া (takoria) Azerbaijani: seyrək Bashkir: һирәк (hirək) Belarusian: рэ́дкі (be) (rédki) Bulgarian: ря́дък (bg) (rjádǎk) Catalan: dispers (ca), espars (ca) Chinese: Mandarin: please add this translation if you can Czech: řídký (cs) m Dutch: verspreid (nl) Esperanto: please add this translation if you can Estonian: hõre Finnish: harva (fi) French: épars (fr), clairsemé (fr) Georgian: მეჩხერი (mečxeri) German: spärlich (de) Hebrew: דליל m (dalíl) Hindi: विरल (hi) (viral) Hungarian: ritka (hu), ritkás (hu), szórványos (hu) Italian: sparso (it), spargolo Macedonian: редок (redok) Old Church Slavonic: Cyrillic: рѣдъкъ (rědŭkŭ) Roman: rédak (sh), rijédak (sh) Polish: rzadki (pl) Portuguese: esparso (pt), disperso (pt) Russian: ре́дкий (ru) (rédkij) Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: ре́дак, рије́дак Slovak: riedky Spanish: disperso (es) Swedish: gles (sv) Thai: please add this translation if you can Ukrainian: рідки́й (ridkýj)

not dense; meager

Afrikaans: yl Albanian: rralluar (sq) , imët (sq) Assamese: সেৰেঙা (xereṅa) Azerbaijani: seyrək Bashkir: һирәк (hirək) Catalan: clar (ca), escàs (ca) Czech: řídký (cs) Dutch: schaars (nl),dun (nl),mager (nl) Finnish: harva (fi) Georgian: მეჩხერი (mečxeri), თხელი (txeli), მწირი (mc̣iri) German: spärlich (de), dünn (de) Hindi: विरल (hi) (viral) Hungarian: gyér (hu) Ingrian: harva Plautdietsch: denn Portuguese: ralo (pt) Romanian: rar (ro) Russian: ре́дкий (ru) (rédkij) Vietnamese: thưa (vi), thưa thớt (vi)

having few nonzero elements

Russian: разрежённый (ru) (razrežónnyj)

See also

• thin out

Verb

sparse (third-person singular simple present sparses, present participle sparsing, simple past and past participle sparsed)

1. (obsolete) To disperse, to scatter.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:disperse

   • 1536, [Richard Morison], A Remedy for Sedition, London: […] Thomae Bertheleti […], →OCLC, signature F. i.:

     They began properly to ſparſe pretye rumours in the North, that no man ſhulde eate whyte breade, no man eate pygge, gooſe, or capon, without he agreed before with the kynge.

Anagrams

• parses, sarpes, repass, Speras, spaers, Aspers, Serpas, spaser, Spares, prases, Spears, aspers, Arpses, Presas, presas, passer, spears, spares

Italian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈspar.se/
• Rhymes: -arse
• Hyphenation: spàr‧se

Etymology 1

Verb

sparse

1. third-person singular past historic of spargere

Etymology 2

Verb

sparse

1. third-person singular past historic of sparire

Etymology 3

Participle

sparse f pl

1. feminine plural of sparso

Anagrams

• pressa, spersa

Latin

Participle

sparse

1. vocative masculine singular of sparsus

Romanian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈsparse]

Verb

sparse

1. third-person singular simple perfect indicative of sparge