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:
Tens of thousands of people walk in and out of Dodger Stadium on any given night, paying scant attention to the trees, plants, and other foliage surrounding it on all sides.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 21, 2026
There was "scant evidence" of the understanding and documentation of the risks of taking the drug, the review team found.
From BBC ● Sep. 13, 2026
In between the book’s linked stories, Ms. Daanje inserts excerpts from those scant archives—Millicent’s letters, the poems and cryptic jottings from Eliza May’s notebooks—as well as passages from various later biographies of the Draydens.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 18, 2026
That’s because the latest inflation reading for July, which saw the consumer price index rise a scant 0.1% for the month, matched Wall Street’s forecast and curbed some inflation anxiety on Wall Street.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 17, 2026
Hard-hearted Robbie paid scant attention to this dreadful possibility, and shook his head a third time.
From "I, Robot" by Isaac Asimov
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
It was a scanter and shallower stream, however, than when he left it, for now the long heats of the summer had shrunken all the watercourses.
From The Haunters of the Silences A Book of Animal Life by Sir Charles George Douglas Roberts
All the time as we went Bridget talked incessantly, although she became scanter and scanter of breath.
From The Story of Bawn by Katharine Tynan
The valley soon shows itself in marked change from the fertile basin we have quitted; it grows bleak and less cultivated; rubbly slopes of shale and slate cover the hills; the vegetation becomes scanter.
From A Midsummer Drive Through the Pyrenees by Edwin Asa Dix
I acknowledge I am a sample group of one, with only the scantest evidence to work with.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 22, 2026
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
Not the scantest and toughest of rock-growths thrust a leaf through its brassy surface, not a well-head or a darker depression of the rock gave sign of a trickle of water.
From In Morocco by Edith Wharton
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
The time scants us for a dinner before the service in the church at Gernicour, and we must hasten or we be late.
From The Book of Saints and Friendly Beasts by Fanny Y. Cory
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
Those seriously interested in the actual goings-on will be scanted unless they can find the full thing on cable.
From Time Magazine Archive
S. Because it is a blessing that he bestows on beasts: and what he hath scanted men in hair, he hath 80 given them in wit.
From The Comedy of Errors The Works of William Shakespeare [Cambridge Edition] [9 vols.] by William George Clark
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
He also accused intellectuals of scanting current cruelties and injustices.
From Time Magazine Archive
USAir executives strongly deny that they are scanting safety.
From Time Magazine Archive
So it was necessary to go down at once and waste whole minutes of the precious scanting light.
From Sea Warfare by Rudyard Kipling
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.
