Translation guide
How to express 'sparsely' in Japanese, covering thin distribution, infrequent occurrence, and sparse density.
sparsely populated
sparsely furnished room
Describing things that are few and far between, not densely packed.
Adverb meaning 'sparsely', 'thinly', or 'scatteredly'. Used for things like people, trees, or houses that are not dense.
The audience was sitting sparsely.
Houses are sparsely built in this area.
Kanji form of まばらに. Same meaning but more common in written language.
Trees are growing sparsely.
Onomatopoeic adverb suggesting scattered dots or sparse occurrences. Often used for lights, raindrops, or isolated items.
Stars are visible sparsely.
Adverb meaning 'here and there', 'sparsely', often for people or things appearing in small numbers.
Describing something that happens only occasionally, not often.
Describing an area with low population or thin vegetation.
まばらに is for physical distribution (sparse arrangement), while まれに is for frequency (rare occurrence). Don't confuse them.
Trees are growing sparsely.
He rarely comes.
街灯がぽつぽつと点いている。
Streetlights are lit sparsely.
会場には人がちらほらいる。
There are people sparsely in the venue.
I go to the movies sparsely.
Public transportation is scarce in sparsely populated areas.