scanty

meager, scanty, scant, skimpy, spare, sparse mean falling short of what is normal, necessary, or desirable. meager implies the absence of elements, qualities, or numbers necessary to a thing's richness, substance, or potency.

• • a meager portion of meat

scanty stresses insufficiency in amount, quantity, or extent.

• • supplies too scanty to last the winter

scant suggests a falling short of what is desired or desirable rather than of what is essential.

• • in January the daylight hours are scant

skimpy usually suggests niggardliness or penury as the cause of the deficiency.

• • tacky housing developments on skimpy lots

spare may suggest a slight falling short of adequacy or merely an absence of superfluity.

• • a spare, concise style of writing

sparse implies a thin scattering of units.

• • a sparse population