scant

Meaning

Adj

1. Not full, large, or plentiful; scarcely sufficient; scanty; meager.
2. Sparing; parsimonious; chary.
3. Slightly diminished; just short of the amount described.

Verb

1. (transitive) To limit in amount or share; to stint.
2. (intransitive) To fail, or become less; to scantle.

Det

Very little, very few.

Noun

1. A small piece or quantity.
2. (uncommon) Scarcity; lack.
3. A block of stone sawn on two sides down to the bed level.
4. A sheet of stone.
5. A slightly thinner measurement of a standard wood size.

Adv

With difficulty; scarcely; hardly.

Synonyms

skimp

stint

scarce

few

🤏

scanty

sparse

meager

short

poor

little

meagre

insufficient

cursory

restrict

rare

reduce

light

limited

beggarly

lack

lean

less

limit

localise

localize

minimize

moneyless

narrow

scrimp

scrimpy

skimpy

skint

slender

slight

small

smear

spare

starveling

straiten

thin

tight

weak

hardly any

not many

scotch

be insufficient

be deficient

be inadequate

be meager

bodge

Translations

scarso

insuffisant

escaso

knapp

gering

corto

schraal

karig

dürftig

escasso

spärlich

karg

ανεπαρκής

knausern mit

Pronounced as (IPA)

/skænt/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: scant

Inherited from Middle English: scanten

In summary

Adjective and determiner from Middle English scant, from Old Norse skamt, neuter of skammr (“short”), from Proto-Germanic *skammaz (“short”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ḱem- (“mutilated, hornless”). Verb from Middle English scanten, from the adjective. Noun and adverb from Middle English scant, from the adjective.