Can 寂しい be used to describe an insufficiency?


In the sentence:

> もしにおいを説明するのに、「いい香り」と「臭い」しか言葉がなかったら寂しい。

I'm confused by the use of 寂しい. My interpretation of the general meaning of
the sentence is:

> Even if you explain/describe a smell, only having the words いい香り and 臭い to
> use makes your explanation limited.

But I wouldn't have thought 寂しい could be used to imply an insufficiency of
something (in this case, vocabulary, for the purpose of expressing something).
Am I on the right track?




Using 寂しい in this way is common. "Makes your explanation limited" is probably
too objective as a translation of 寂しい. This 寂しい refers to a speakers
subjective impression, and it means "I would feel I'm missing something". Of
course the author is trying to share his/her feelings with the readers here,
but basically this 寂しい is his/her own feelings.

