sparingly

adverbB2+Rare in speech; mostly a word you read · #13,577 of 15,258leans written

Sparingly means using only a little at a time. Use it sparingly, applied sparingly, spend sparingly.

It appears most often in instructions — on medicines, on strong flavours, on anything where more is worse. It implies deliberate restraint rather than shortage. Note spare, in the sense of to hold back, which is what the word comes from.

Definitions of sparingly

1adverbsparinglyUsing only a little at a time.B2+
“Use the salt sparingly; you can always add more later.”

sparingly is a manner of using.

Where it comes from

From sparing + -ly.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in A Song of Ice and Fire

Practise this word

sparingly in the wild

Replacing Curt Marsh, Hannah was the starting left guard for the Raiders from 1983 to 1986, but played more sparingly in his final two years.
Charley Hannah
Another common vivadi some artists use sparingly is shuddha nishad which enhances the Saranga mood of the raga.
Adana (raga)
The Leventritt award was sparingly given, and there was no award presented if the judges felt the required standard was not achieved.
Leventritt Competition
Ammonium iodate is an inorganic salt which is sparingly soluble in cold, and moderately soluble in hot water, like all iodate salts, it is a strong oxidizer.
Ammonium iodate
The Farmall name was applied sparingly to International Harvester's UK products, appearing only as the BM, BMD and B-450.
Farmall Britain

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

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