arrant

Meaning

1. Complete; downright; utter.
2. Very bad; despicable.
3. (obsolete) Obsolete form of errant (“roving around; wandering”).

Synonyms

absolute

utter

complete

total

consummate

perfect

stark

staring

gross

impudent

thoroughgoing

barefaced

downright

unadulterated

unblushing

bold

notorious

out-and-out

pure

cheeky

double-dyed

everlasting

shameless

rank

sheer

sodding

unconscionable

unmitigated

unrelieved

veritable

thorough-going

choate

all

completely metrizable

absolutely

accomplished

altogether

arch

arrantly

blanket

completely

corker

egregious

entirely

finished

full

fully

livelong

main

mere

outright

perfectly

plain

precious

quite

straight-out

thorough

thoroughly

totally

Hyphenated as

ar‧rant

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ˈæɹ(ə)nt/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: erraunt

In summary

A variant of errant, from Middle English erraunt [and other forms], from Anglo-Norman erraunt, from Old French errant, the present participle of errer (“to walk (to); to wander (to); (figuratively) to travel, voyage”), and then:
* from Vulgar Latin iterō (compare Late Latin itinerō, itineror (“to travel, voyage”)), from Latin iter (“a route (including a journey, trip; a course; a path; a road)”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₁ey- (“to go”); and
* from Latin errāns (“straying, errant; wandering”), the present active participle of errō (“to rove, wander; to get lost, go astray; to err, wander from the truth”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₁ers- (“to flow”).
The original sense was sense 3 (“roving around, wandering”). Due to the word being used to describe disreputable persons who wandered about (for example, arrant knave and arrant thief), it came to be used as an intensifier (sense 1: “complete; downright; utter”) and to have a negative meaning (sense 2: “very bad; despicable”).