From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishbe thin on the groundbe thin on the groundRAREif a particular type of person or thing is thin on the ground, there are very few available Taxis seem to be thin on the ground. → thin
Examples from the Corpus
be thin on the ground• Our only problem is finding staff, because good programmers are really thin on the ground.• By the mid-1970s, managers and executives in the late 30s to late 40s age group were thin on the ground.• Major launches were thin on the ground.• New textbooks on nuclear and particle physics are thin on the ground.• Not surprisingly, business news was thin on the ground.• Systems integrators and resellers are thin on the ground, and there is little home-grown technology.• Hard evidence is thin on the ground, and what there is, is not encouraging.• Magazines about home improvement were very thin on the ground at the time - not like now.• Even now, as in the beginning, women are thin on the ground in the service.• The cabs were thinner on the ground now, so I kept a couple of cars between us. 