Edit page | Page history | Printable version

sparse

1. Thinly scattered; set or planted here and there; not being dense or close together; as, a sparse population.

2. (Science: botany) Placed irregularly and distantly; scattered; applied to branches, leaves, peduncles, and the like.

Origin: L. Sparsus, p.p. Of spargere to strew, scatter. Cf. Asperse, Disperse.