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arrant

[ar-uhnt]
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adjective
  1. downright; thorough; unmitigated; notorious: an arrant fool.
  2. wandering; errant.
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Origin of arrant

1350–1400; Middle English, variant of errant
Related formsar·rant·ly, adverb
Can be confusedarrant errant

Synonyms

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1. thoroughgoing, utter, confirmed, flagrant.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words

absoluteblatantglaringnotoriousout-and-outunmitigatedunregenerate

Examples from the Web for arrant

Historical Examples

  • "I'm afraid you're an arrant little coquette," said Katherine indulgently.

    Viviette

    William J. Locke

  • But they are all arrant cowards, and fear to approach me—fear even to come into this wood.

    Green Mansions

    W. H. Hudson

  • This made me think that my correspondent was an arrant block-head.

    The Memoires of Casanova, Complete

    Jacques Casanova de Seingalt

  • If the old woman has got any arrant at all, it's likely it's to your mother and me.

  • He was an arrant coward like the most of his downtrodden race.

    Tess of the Storm Country

    Grace Miller White

British Dictionary definitions for arrant

arrant

adjective
  1. utter; out-and-outan arrant fool
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Derived Formsarrantly, adverb

Word Origin

C14: a variant of errant (wandering, vagabond); sense developed from its frequent use in phrases like arrant thief (hence: notorious)
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for arrant

adj.

late 14c., variant of errant (q.v.); at first merely derogatory, "wandering, vagrant;" then (1540s) acquiring a meaning "thoroughgoing, downright, notorious."

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper