scant
pronunciation
How to pronounce scant in British English:
UK [skænt]
How to pronounce scant in American English:
US [skænt]
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- Verb:
- work hastily or carelessly; deal with inadequately and superficially
- limit in quality or quantity
- supply sparingly and with restricted quantities
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- Adjective:
- less than the correct or legal or full amount often deliberately so
Word Origin
- scant (adj.)
- mid-14c., from a Scandinavian source such as Old Norse skamt, neuter of skammr "short, brief," from Proto-Germanic *skamma- (cognates: Old English scamm "short," Old High German skemmen "to shorten"), perhaps ultimately "hornless," from PIE *kem- (see hind (n.)). Also in Middle English as a noun, "scant supply, scarcity," from Old Norse. As a verb and adverb from mid-15c.
Example
- 1. Rigorous research has been scant .
- 2. Most prostitutes are middle-aged , with scant education and no job prospects or connections .
- 3. But the newly elected bush administration had also criticized the indiscriminacy of clinton 's interventions abroad , shown scant interest in human-rights doctrines , and in its first months taken few or no significant foreign initiatives .
- 4. Individual fixes will be scant defence against future crises .
- 5. He paid scant attention to what was said .