scant

English

Etymology

From Middle English, from Old Norse skamt, neuter of skammr (“short”)

Pronunciation

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ænt

Adjective

scant (comparative scanter, superlative scantest)

1. very little, very few

   "After his previous escapades, Mary had scant reason to believe John."

Synonyms

• (very litttle, few): few, little, slight

Antonyms

• (very litttle, few): ample, plenty

Derived terms

• scanty

Related terms

• scantily

Translations

very little

Czech: pramalý (cs) m. Finnish: niukka (fi) French: insuffisant (fr), rare (fr), maigre (fr) German: spärlich (de), gering (de), dürftig (de), knapp (de)

Hebrew: מעט מאוד (he) (méat méod) Russian: недостаточный (ru) Scottish Gaelic: gann

Verb

scant (third-person singular simple present scants, present participle scanting, simple past and past participle scanted)

1. To limit in amount or share; to stint.

Noun

scant (plural scants)

1. (masonry) A block of stone sawn on two sides down to the bed level.
2. (masonry) A sheet of stone.
3. (wood) A slightly thinner measurement of a standard wood size.

Quotations

• For examples of the usage of this term see the citations page.

Anagrams

• canst, can'st
• cants