Literary notes about sparse (AI summary)
Writers use "sparse" to evoke a sense of insufficiency or minimal presence, whether describing natural landscapes or human features. It often suggests a thin, scattered distribution as seen in depictions of a lone figure moving through sparse timber [1] or a vast territory with a sparse population [2, 3]. In the realm of nature, the word paints imagery of stunted, thin growth—like sparse clumps of vegetation on gentle slopes [4] or sparse trees lining a rugged beach [5]—while in character descriptions it highlights delicate or diminished physical traits, such as sparse hair or a sparse beard [6, 7, 8]. Even in stylistic uses, "sparse" implies a pared-down quality, as with a sparse vocabulary that mirrors a minimalist setting [9].
- m, when she saw a woman coming slowly through the sparse timber in the rear of the barn, a sunbonnet pulled closely over her head and face.
— from In Beaver Cove and Elsewhere by Crim, Matt, Miss - The native populations, sparse in these regions at any time, seemed now to have been either exterminated or carried into captivity.
— from Tom Burnaby: A Story of Uganda and the Great Congo Forest by Herbert Strang - He was pleased to learn that Tibet, with its extremely sparse population and its very precipitous
— from The Patient Observer and His Friends by Simeon Strunsky - Extending in the near foreground are gentle slopes covered with sparse clumps of stunted vegetation.
— from Glacier National Park [Montana] by United States. Department of the Interior - I could clearly see the shore, which featured a few sparse trees here and there.
— from Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas: An Underwater Tour of the World by Jules Verne - Remarkable about him was his long white hair contrasted with a sparse black beard, indicating a mestizo origin.
— from The Reign of Greed by José Rizal - I did not appreciate until too late how thin and sparse her hair really was.
— from The Night Club by Herbert George Jenkins - Doctor Allison, who had been scowling at the ceiling, passing his fingers thoughtfully through his sparse gray hair, sighed deeply.
— from The Best Short Stories of 1917, and the Yearbook of the American Short Story - The prose Anderson employs in telling these stories may seem at first glance to be simple: short sentences, a sparse vocabulary, uncomplicated syntax.
— from Winesburg, Ohio: A Group of Tales of Ohio Small Town Life by Sherwood Anderson
