sparse
pronunciation
How to pronounce sparse in British English:
UK [spɑ:s]
How to pronounce sparse in American English:
US [spɑrs]
-
- Adjective:
- not dense
Word Origin
- sparse
- sparse: see spread
- sparse (adj.)
- 1727, from Latin sparsus "scattered," past participle of spargere "to scatter, spread," from PIE root *(s)preg- (2) "to jerk, scatter" (cognates: Sanskrit parjanya- "rain, rain god," Avestan fra-sparega "branch, twig," literally "that which is jerked off a tree," Old Norse freknur "freckles," Swedish dialectal sprygg "brisk, active," Lithuanian sprogti "shoot, bud," Old Irish arg "a drop"). The word is found earlier in English as a verb, "to scatter abroad" (16c.). Related: Sparsely; sparseness.
Example
- 1. In a sparse distributed network , memory is a type of perception .
- 2. But in a parallel supercomputer with a sparse , distributed memory , the distinction between memory and processing fades .
- 3. Though they may have found my empty rooms , bare walls , and sparse wardrobe quirky , they simply accepted it as who I was .
- 4. Yet ms thien 's sparse , elegant writing gives " dogs at the perimeter " a beauty that is all the more poignant for its subject matter .
- 5. Species that were once sparse started to carpet the plots .