scant
Americanadjective
-
scanter,
comparative
-
scantest
superlative
-
barely sufficient in amount or quantity; not abundant; almost inadequate.
to do scant justice.
-
limited; meager; not large.
a scant amount.
- Synonyms:
- restricted, small, scanty
-
barely amounting to as much as indicated.
a scant two hours; a scant cupful.
-
having an inadequate or limited supply (usually followed byof ).
scant of breath.
verb (used with object)
-
scants,
present (3rd person singular)
-
scanted,
past participle, past
-
scanting
present participle
adverb
adjective
-
scarcely sufficient; limited
he paid her scant attention
-
(prenominal) slightly short of the amount indicated; bare
a scant ten inches
-
having a short supply (of)
verb
-
to limit in size or quantity
-
to provide with a limited or inadequate supply of
-
to treat in a slighting or inadequate manner
adverb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Adjectives
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
scantsimple
-
scantssimple
-
have scantedperfect
-
has scantedperfect
-
am scantingprogressive
-
are scantingprogressive
-
is scantingprogressive
-
have been scantingperfect progressive
-
has been scantingperfect progressive
Past
-
scantedsimple
-
had scantedperfect
-
was scantingprogressive
-
were scantingprogressive
-
had been scantingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of scant
1325–75; Middle English (adj.) < Old Norse skamt, neuter of skammr short
Explanation
Scant is an adjective that means "a tiny amount," like your scant attendance at practice this week that results in being benched from the big game. Scant is also a verb, that means "to supply sparingly" — don't scant with the brownies, or I will keep asking for more. Scant also means "to deal with inadequately or carelessly." When you scant the reports on homelessness, they are so superficial on data that they don't reflect the real problem. Scant comes from the Old Norse word skamt, meaning "short, brief."
Vocabulary lists containing scant
"Romeo and Juliet" by William Shakespeare, Act I
Looking to grow your vocabulary? Check out this interactive, curated word list from our team of English language specialists at Vocabulary.com – one of over 17,000 lists we've built to help learners worldwide!
This Week in Words: October 21- 27, 2018
Interested in learning more words like this one? Our team at Vocabulary.com has got you covered! You can review flashcards, quiz yourself, practice spelling, and more – and it's all completely free to use!
30 GRE Words Beginning with "Q" "R" and "S"
Want to remember this word for good? Start your learning journey today with our library of interactive, themed word lists built by the experts at Vocabulary.com – we'll help you make the most of your study time!
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Some had waited all afternoon in sweltering heat beneath the scant shade of umbrellas, while others, the best prepared, had set up their telescopes.
From Barron's ● Aug. 12, 2026
Consumer prices probably rose a scant 0.1% in July after declining in June for the first time in six years, according to a poll of economists by the Wall Street Journal.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 11, 2026
Besides campaigning for Lindsey, Darline has a scant track record.
From Slate ● Jul. 24, 2026
While it may be scant consolation for those in communties around old urban motorways, bypasses like the one at Port Talbot are less likely to be built now.
From BBC ● Jul. 21, 2026
The consequences of their conversations seemed scant but they both seemed pleased with the possibilities, which, in turn, pleased Angela.
From "145th Street: Short Stories" by Walter Dean Myers
On scant notice and even scanter knowledge, the TV executive must decide whether the threat is news to be covered, or a cruel, senseless display that the cameras will only encourage.
From Time Magazine Archive
With new Simpson revelations ever scanter, the connected tale of his longtime friend A.C.
From Time Magazine Archive
There's not a bourgeois couple in the land Who, should dire duty rule their severance, Could part with scanter scandal than could we.
From The Dynasts by Thomas Hardy
A scant unceremonious "Hallo!" when we meet; a scanter "Night" or "Morning," according to the circumstances, when we part.
From Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 146, January 14, 1914 by Various
The farther north they travelled the scanter became the growth of pine and poplar and willow.
From Pathfinders of the West Being the Thrilling Story of the Adventures of the Men Who Discovered the Great Northwest: Radisson, La Vérendrye, Lewis and Clark by Agnes C. (Agnes Christina) Laut
If all you have is a faint recollection that a distant relative once bought you a bond, NS&I can find out for sure with the scantest of information, says Ms Waters.
From BBC ● Nov. 2, 2022
McKim, who made his name selling bundles of children’s books, usually has only the scantest notion about what will be inside.
From Washington Post ● Mar. 8, 2022
It has rounded corners and just the scantest of frames above and on the sides of it.
From The Verge ● Sep. 11, 2017
She saw herself as an archaeologist who could reconstruct the workings of an underground metropolis based on the scantest traces on the surface.
From The Guardian ● Mar. 8, 2017
He said, in his Cosmic Philosophy: “The process of evolution is itself the working out of a mighty Teleology of which our finite understandings can fathom but the scantest rudiments.”
From The Unpopular Review, Number 19 July-December 1918 by Various
As the National Association of Scholars will soon publish in a comprehensive piece by S. Stanley Young and Warren Kindzierski, the Reference Manual pervasively scants the effects of modern science’s irreproducibility crisis.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 24, 2026
While “Kissinger” scants the tapes, it leans precariously on one source.
From Salon ● Nov. 1, 2025
In her impressionistic portrait, Brown moves some events in time, combines others and scants certain family members — entirely omitting, for example, William’s son, John, a famous scientist in his own right.
From Washington Post ● Jan. 11, 2016
In its endless scanning of surfaces and appearances, slice-of-life realism scants the substance of truth and reality.
From Time Magazine Archive
In this book dedicated to a Pope he scants nothing of his hatred of the Holy See.
From Machiavelli, Volume I by Edward Dacres
Hospitals and heroic interventions got the large investments; incrementalists were scanted.
From The New Yorker ● Jan. 15, 2017
The implications of the technology, on the other hand, are somewhat scanted.
From New York Times ● Jul. 5, 2016
Earlier biographies — the best is Lyndall Gordon’s — have somewhat scanted Eliot’s American childhood and youth, which is one reason why this new book is so valuable.
From Washington Post ● Apr. 15, 2015
But one aim will not be scanted: attack on the problem of why twice as many young women as young men between the ages of 15 and 24 die from tuberculosis.
From Time Magazine Archive
Monsieur's purse afforded no holiday-dress but a shroud; three of these in requisition within so short a time quite scanted the wardrobe of the other children.
From The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 11, No. 64, February, 1863 by Various
But focusing too intently on the play’s stimulating politics risks scanting its humor and its family dynamics.
From New York Times ● Feb. 22, 2017
In a production that is stilted, mannered and ludicrously stylized, Director John Barton appears to have rummaged through Peter Brook's wastebasket for directorial inspiration while scanting Shakespeare's genius.
From Time Magazine Archive
Brecht made the astronomer into an opportunist and, scanting history, into a sensualist.
From Time Magazine Archive
In the second offering of its premiere engagement in Los Angeles, the British National Theater performs with its usual eclat while somewhat scanting the poetic mood music of the play.
From Time Magazine Archive
In all but this, Not scanting labour, I will do my part.
From The Seven Plays in English Verse by Sophocles
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
