What is the opposite of "overcrowded"?

Question

Hey guys,can anyone help me figure out a word describing the school with too little student enrollment? like the opposite of "overcrowded school"?Thanksgina

Clive · Accepted Answer

Hi,

can anyone help me figure out a word describing the school with too little student enrollment? like the opposite of "overcrowded school"?

You just want one word, right? Hmmmm . . .

under-utilized? under-attended? empty?

Clive

Khoff · Answer

under-populated?

Anonymous · Answer

The correct word in this context is 'undersubscribed'.

I hope this helps.

(Native English speaker)

Zbd · Answer

The correct word in this context is undersubscribed.

This word only applies in this situation, one could not say that a town was undersubscribed, that would then be 'underpopulated'.

I hope this is of some use to you. I know many native English speakers who would not know to use this word.

Davkett · Answer

ZbdThe correct word in this context is undersubscribed.

I know many native English speakers who would not know to use this word.

I'd be one who wouldn't use that word. We don't subscribe to schools in the United States. We enroll in schools.
The school might have light enrollment, but you wouldn't necessarily want to describe it as the lightly-enrolled school.
I doubt, by the way, whether a town would ever be called underpopulated. It might be called a ghost town, though.

Zbd · Answer

Davkett
Zbd
The correct word in this context is undersubscribed.

I know many native English speakers who would not know to use this word.

I'd be one who wouldn't use that word. We don't subscribe to schools in the United States. We enroll in schools.
The school might have light enrollment, but you wouldn't necessarily want to describe it as the lightly-enrolled school.
I doubt, by the way, whether a town would ever be called underpopulated. It might be called a ghost town, though.

Exactly, you would not say that a school was underenrolled! Here in England, a school would be undersubscribed.

I agree, maybe the example of an underpopulated town was incorrect. Perhaps a better use of the word would be a quote I stole from a US politician - "My philosophy is that down here in the rural areas we are underpopulated".

I have noticed that many American news sources do use the word 'underpopulated' with reference to schools so maybe this is a British vs. American English thing!

What is the opposite of "overcrowded"?

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