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:
With scant information about the group's plans or long-term intentions, supporters have cause for caution - especially with the end of the Hicks-Gillette era still vivid in the minds of many.
From BBC ● Aug. 11, 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
But with no public meetings and scant media coverage, few residents even knew the project was under way.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 7, 2026
There's scant to no clinical evidence supporting such promises, and doctors have voiced concern that endorsing weakly understood if trendy substances could direct patients away from treatments backed by evidence.
From Barron's ● Jul. 24, 2026
Their knowledge of the deadly effects of extreme altitude was scant, and their equipment was pathetically inadequate by modern standards.
From "Into Thin Air" by Jon Krakauer
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
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
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
After the terrible dangers of the voyage, with scant sleep and scanter fare, the country seemed, as Radisson says, a terrestrial paradise.
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
Yet seems this vast and singular confection Wherein our scenery glints of scantest size, Inutile all—so far as reasonings tell.
From The Dynasts by Thomas Hardy
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
The film somewhat scants Kaufman's only widely popular success, as Latka, the "foreign man" of Taxi.
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
Add to this Krasner's prickly contempt for diplomacy with critics, and one can see why for most of her life her work was scanted as "minor," an appendage to Pollock's.
From Time Magazine Archive
When we were a seaboord the barre the wind scanted vpon vs, and was at Eastsoutheast, insomuch that we stopped the ebbes, and plyed all the floods to the windewards, and made our way Eastnortheast.
From The Principal Navigations, Voyages, Traffiques and Discoveries of the English Nation — Volume 03 by Richard Hakluyt
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
Volumes as heavily freighted with plates, maps and other cargo as this one have a way of scanting facts for four-color fanfares.
From Time Magazine Archive
What some describe as today's apathy or scanting of heaven, he calls health.
From Time Magazine Archive
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
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.
