arrant

See also: Arrant

English

Alternative forms

• arraunt (obsolete)

Etymology

Alteration of errant. Originally meaning wandering, the term came to be an intensifier due to its use as an epithet, e.g. in the phrases arrant thieves and arrant knaves (i.e., “wandering bandits”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈæɹənt/
• enPR: ărʹənt
  • IPA^(key): /ˈæɹənt/
  • IPA^(key): /ˈɛɹənt/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Homophone: errant (in accents with the Mary–marry–merry merger)

Adjective

arrant (comparative arranter, superlative arrantest)

1. Utter; complete (with a negative sense).

   arrant nonsense! [1708]

   • 1749, Henry Fielding, “In which the Surgeon Makes His Second Appearance”, in The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, volume III, London: A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC, book VIII, page 164:

     He is an arrant Scrub, I aſſure you.

   • 1851 November 14, Herman Melville, “The Spouter-Inn”, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC, page 16:

     The liquor soon mounted into their heads, as it generally does even with the arrantest topers newly landed from sea, and they began capering about most obstreperously.

   • 1908, Walter Frederic Adeney, The Greek and Eastern churches, page 319:

     Here was the first ecclesiastic in the Greek Church professing the most thorough-going Protestant tenets, even echoing arrant Calvinism!

2. Obsolete form of errant.
   • circa 1600, William Shakespeare, Hamlet, scene 1:

     We are arrant knaves all; believe none of us.

Usage notes

Particularly used in the phrase “arrant knaves”, quoting Hamlet, and “arrant nonsense”.

Some dictionaries consider arrant simply an alternative form of errant, but in usage they have long since split.

The word has long been considered archaic, may be confused with errant, and is used primarily in clichés, on which basis some recommend against using it.

Translations

utter

• Interlingue:
• Russian: су́щий (ru) m (súščij), отъя́вленный (ru) m (otʺjávlennyj) (usually negative connotation)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}

errant — see errant

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Bulgarian: ^{(please verify)} явен (bg) (javen), ^{(please verify)} отявлен (bg) (otjavlen)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}

References

• “arrant/errant”, Common Errors in English Usage, Paul Brians
• On Language: Arrant Nonsense, William Safire, January 22, 2006, New York Times
• Merriam–Webster’s dictionary of English usage, 1995, “errant, arrant”, pp. 406–407