arrant
Americanadjective
-
downright; thorough; unmitigated; notorious.
an arrant fool.
- Synonyms:
- flagrant, confirmed, utter, thoroughgoing
-
wandering; errant.
adjective
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Etymology
Origin of arrant
1350–1400; Middle English, variant of errant
Explanation
The word arrant intensifies. An arrant criminal is one heck of a criminal. Arrant nonsense is total nonsense. Do you struggle for adequate superlatives? If so, you might want to add arrant to your arsenal. It can be used to add emphasis to other words, most often negative words. Arrant rudeness is extreme rudeness. Arrant hypocrisy is very hypocritical. An arrant liar is a world-class liar. Arrant has a meaning similar to complete or utter. Like other intensifiers, arrant turns up the volume on another word.
Vocabulary lists containing arrant
The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark
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Much Ado About Nothing
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Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
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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.
"There's no way he can stay on until October. It's arrant nonsense to think he can. Someone needs to grip this."
From Reuters • Jul. 7, 2022
Or put less politely, as Mr. Rudd writes in the first sentence of his paper, “Mainstream economics is replete with ideas that ‘everyone knows’ to be true, but that are actually arrant nonsense.”
From New York Times • Oct. 1, 2021
The country that invented Donald Duck is the last to discover his cynicism—and what arrant cynicism it is.
From The New Yorker • Jun. 3, 2019
Flawed but gifted authors high and low, from Laura Ingalls Wilder to John Muir to Mark Twain, have been lumped together with arrant racists and worse.
From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 28, 2018
“The whole thing is arrant nonsense, of course,” he said.
From "Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets" by J. K. Rowling
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.
