tantamount

Meanings

1. 1
   adj

   Equal in effect or meaning to something else, even if not technically the same.

   Staying silent now would be tantamount to admitting guilt.

First attested in English in 1628. Either inherited from an unattested Middle English borrowing from Anglo-Norman tant amount, from amunter, from tant (“as much”) amonter (“to amount to”) or borrowed in the early 17th century from Italian tanto montare (“to amount to as much”).

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