scant

C2+ Topic:Numbers & Quantity

US /skænt/ UK /skænt/ See IPA manual

adj verb

Meanings

1

adj
barely sufficient or limited in quantity

They paid scant attention to the warning signs.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 adj · barely sufficient or... meager scanty sparse insufficient limited paltry minimal

Opposites

ample abundant plentiful generous

Word family

Derived forms scantlyscantyscantness

Related forms scanty scantling

Etymology

From Old Norse skamt, the neuter of skammr ('short, brief'), of Proto-Germanic origin.

skamt Old Norse *skammaz Proto-Germanic

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Numbers & Quantity

# scant

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** adj, verb
**IPA (US):** skænt
**IPA (UK):** skænt

## Meanings
1. barely sufficient or limited in quantity

## Examples
- They paid scant attention to the warning signs.

## Synonyms
- meager
- scanty
- sparse
- insufficient
- limited
- paltry
- minimal

## Antonyms
- ample
- abundant
- plentiful
- generous

## Derived Forms
- scantly
- scanty
- scantness

## Related Forms
- scanty
- scantling

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: skamt
- Root: *skammaz

## Etymology
From Old Norse skamt, the neuter of skammr ('short, brief'), of Proto-Germanic origin.

## AI Etymology
Scant comes from Old Norse skamt, the neuter of skammr ('short, brief'), of Proto-Germanic origin. The historical chain includes Old Norse skamt and Proto-Germanic *skammaz. The quoted older sense, "short, brief," supplies the immediate semantic anchor for scant. The formation is best read as borrowed: the word scant carries its older form-history into a compact English lexical shape. In present English it is used as a adj, "barely sufficient or limited in quantity". English derivatives include scantly, scanty, and scantness; related English forms include scanty and scantling. The result is a adj and verb whose etymology preserves both the older form and the later English specialization.

## Topics
- Numbers & Quantity

markdown

scant

Meanings

Thesaurus

Etymology

Topics

Keyboard Shortcuts

General

Send feedback