scant

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /skænt/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ænt

Etymology 1

From Middle English scant, from Old Norse skamt, neuter of skammr (“short”), from Proto-Germanic *skammaz (“short”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ḱem- (“mutilated, hornless”).

Adjective

scant (comparative scanter, superlative scantest)

1. Very little, very few.

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

   • 2018, James Lambert, “A multitude of ‘lishes’: The nomenclature of hybridity”, in English World-Wide‎^[1], page 4:

     Another major defect of the current literature dealing with the nomenclature of hybrid forms of English is the scant attention paid to the question of frequency.

   • 2019 July 17, Talia Lavin, “When Non-Jews Wield Anti-Semitism as Political Shield”, in GQ‎^[2]:

     [Minnesota Senator Steve] Daines isn’t the only example of right-wing politicians who wish to wield anti-Semitism as a convenient cudgel against their political enemies, with scant if any evidence. But Montana’s vanishingly small Jewish population makes it particularly clear that this strategy has little to do with flesh-and-blood Jews at all.

2. Not full, large, or plentiful; scarcely sufficient; scanty; meager; not enough.

   a scant allowance of provisions or water; a scant pattern of cloth for a garment

   • 1824, John Watkins, Life of Hugh Latimer

     His sermon was scant, in all, a quarter of an hour.

3. Sparing; parsimonious; chary.
   • c. 1599–1602, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act I, scene iii]:

     Be somewhat scanter of your maiden presence.

Synonyms

• (very little, few): few, little, slight
• (rare, scarce): geason; see also Thesaurus:rare

Antonyms

• (very little, few): ample, plenty

Derived terms

• scanty

Related terms

• scantily

Translations

very little

• Czech: pramalý m
• Danish: meget lidt, knap
• Dutch: gering (nl), karig (nl)
• Esperanto: malmultete
• Finnish: niukka (fi)
• French: insuffisant (fr), rare (fr), maigre (fr)
• German: spärlich (de), gering (de), dürftig (de), knapp (de), kaum (de)
• Hebrew: מעט מאוד‎ (méat méod)

• Italian: scarso (it) m, esiguo (it) m
• Portuguese: escasso (pt) m
• Russian: недоста́точный (ru) (nedostátočnyj)
• Scottish Gaelic: gann
• Spanish: exiguo (es) m

not plentiful, scarcely sufficient

• Danish: mager, knap
• Esperanto: malabunda (eo), preskaŭ nesufiĉa
• Spanish: escaso (es) m, magro (es) m

Etymology 2

From Middle English scanten, from the adjective (see above).

Verb

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

1. (transitive) To limit in amount or share; to stint.

   to scant someone in provisions; to scant ourselves in the use of necessaries

   • c. 1606–1607, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Anthonie and Cleopatra”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act IV, scene ii]:

     Scant not my cups.

   • 1625, Francis Bacon, Of Building

     where man hath a great living laid together and where he is scanted

   • 1625, Francis Bacon, Of Building

     I am scanted in the pleasure of dwelling on your actions.

2. (intransitive) To fail, or become less; to scantle.

   The wind scants.

Etymology 3

From Middle English scant, from the adjective (see above).

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 quotations using this term, see Citations:scant.

Etymology 4

From Middle English scant, from the adjective (see above).

Adverb

scant (not comparable)

1. With difficulty; scarcely; hardly.
   • 1655, Thomas Fuller, James Nichols, editor, The Church History of Britain, […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), new edition, London: […] [James Nichols] for Thomas Tegg and Son, […], published 1837, OCLC 913056315:

     So weak that he was scant able to go down the stairs.

   • 1597, Francis Bacon, Of the Colours of Good and Evil

     the Epicure , that will scant endure the Stoic to be in sight of him

Noun

scant

1. Scarcity; lack.

Anagrams

• can'st, canst, cants, casn't