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
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This Week in Words: October 21- 27, 2018
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30 GRE Words Beginning with "Q" "R" and "S"
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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.
See Examples For:
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
The front-runner was Francesca Hong, a State Assemblywoman and DSA member who, according to the scant few surveys conducted, held a dominant lead over the moderate candidates in the field.
From Slate ● Aug. 17, 2026
Despite her influence, there are scant details about Clark online—and efforts have been made to remove references to her, according to a Journal analysis and a person familiar with the matter.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 14, 2026
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
He flew right out at me, landed on my shoulder, gave me a lecture that I shall never forget, and vanished under the scant cover of trillium and bloodroot leaves.
From "My Side of the Mountain" by Jean Craighead George
With new Simpson revelations ever scanter, the connected tale of his longtime friend A.C.
From Time Magazine Archive
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
The trees become scanter as we near the top.
From A Midsummer Drive Through the Pyrenees by Edwin Asa Dix
From this time Be something scanter of your maiden presence; Set your entreatments at a higher rate Than a command to parley.
From Hamlet by William Shakespeare
There was scant chance that the call would be carried to her by the boisterous wind, scanter chance still that, hearing it now in that mad rout, she would heed.
From On the Firing Line by Hamilton Brock Fuller
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
The marker is engraved with the scantest details of Lyles’s life: “Born May 8, 1898. Killed on Smoot’s Dredging Machine Sept. 1, 1917.”
From Washington Post ● Jun. 8, 2020
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 lived by the grace of McKee's cowardice and that cowardice had permitted this triumph by the scantest possible margin.
From The Last Straw by Harold Titus
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
Stalin scants Stalin as well as conventional play making.
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
But in all the brouhaha, Bird came to seem more the epitome of an era than the creation of any one man, and Brancusi's full achievement came to be scanted.
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
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
But high prices since the war have tempted most builders into cutting corners, cramping spaces, and scanting on wall thicknesses.
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.
