smatter
verb (used with object)
to speak (a language, words, etc.) with superficial knowledge or understanding.
smatterer
-
a word derived from
smatter.
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.
This law, abounding with contradictions which every smatterer in political philosophy can detect, did what a law framed by the utmost skill of the greatest masters of political philosophy might have failed to do.
From The History of England, from the Accession of James II — Volume 3 by Thomas Babington Macaulay, Baron Macaulay
The veriest smatterer in political economy cannot but perceive the ruinous tendency of such a measure.
From Thoughts on African Colonization by William Lloyd Garrison
At this explanation she shook her head, and observed that no smatterer could read as I had done.
From The Adventures of Roderick Random by T. (Tobias) Smollett
Now Chilperic must have learned to speak Latin like other kings of the Franks, and was a smatterer in several kinds of literature.
From View of the State of Europe during the Middle Ages, Vol. 3 by Henry Hallam
If the question were, What is the best mode of securing good government in Europe? the merest smatterer in politics would answer, representative institutions.
From Miscellaneous Writings and Speeches — Volume 4 by Thomas Babington Macaulay, Baron Macaulay
