SCANT

Pronunciation (US):

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IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does scant mean? 

• SCANT (adjective)
  The adjective SCANT has 1 sense:

1. less than the correct or legal or full amount often deliberately so

  Familiarity information: SCANT used as an adjective is very rare.

• SCANT (verb)
  The verb SCANT has 3 senses:

1. work hastily or carelessly; deal with inadequately and superficially

2. limit in quality or quantity

3. supply sparingly and with restricted quantities

  Familiarity information: SCANT used as a verb is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• SCANT (adjective)

Comparative: scanter   
Superlative: scantest   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Less than the correct or legal or full amount often deliberately so

Synonyms:

light; scant; short

Context example:

regularly gives short weight

Similar:

deficient; insufficient (of a quantity not able to fulfill a need or requirement)

Derivation:

scantness (the quality of being meager)

• SCANT (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they scant    ... he / she / it scants   
Past simple: scanted   
Past participle: scanted   
-ing form: scanting   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Work hastily or carelessly; deal with inadequately and superficially

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Synonyms:

scant; skimp

Hypernyms (to "scant" is one way to...):

work (exert oneself by doing mental or physical work for a purpose or out of necessity)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s

Sense 2

Meaning:

Limit in quality or quantity

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Synonyms:

scant; skimp

Hypernyms (to "scant" is one way to...):

bound; confine; limit; restrict; throttle; trammel (place limits on (extent or amount or access))

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sense 3

Meaning:

Supply sparingly and with restricted quantities

Classified under:

Verbs of buying, selling, owning

Synonyms:

scant; skimp; stint

Context example:

stint with the allowance

Hypernyms (to "scant" is one way to...):

furnish; provide; render; supply (give something useful or necessary to)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s

 Context examples 

A benign or malignant cell that is characterized by the presence of a small nucleus and scant amount of cytoplasm.

(Neoplastic Small Cell, NCI Thesaurus)

But poverty was heavy upon him, his land was scant, his coffers empty, and the very castle which covered him the holding of another.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

A neoplastic astrocyte characterized by the presence of an atypical nucleus (large, irregular, or hyperchromatic), scant amount of cytoplasm, and cell processes that contribute to the formation of a fibrillary matrix.

(Fibrillary Neoplastic Astrocyte, NCI Thesaurus)

An aggressive variant of cervical squamous cell carcinoma characterized by the presence of nests of malignant basaloid squamous cells with scant amount of cytoplasm.

(Cervical Basaloid Carcinoma, NCI Thesaurus)

It is probably of astrocytic origin, although GFAP expression may be scant or absent.

(Gliomatosis Cerebri, NCI Thesaurus)

He saved himself by springing back, the jaws snapping together a scant six inches from his thigh.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

It is characterized by the presence of small malignant cells with hyperchromatic nuclei and scant amount of cytoplasm forming lobules with peripheral palisading.

(Head and Neck Basaloid Carcinoma, NCI Thesaurus)

Invasive malignant epithelial neoplasm characterized by cells with scant cytoplasm and hyperchromatic nuclei, which may show molding and chromatin streaming around blood vessels (Azzopardi effect).

(Invasive Small Cell Carcinoma of the Mouse Prostate Gland, NCI Thesaurus/MMHCC)

Morphology includes solid and rosetting, with scant to moderate cytoplasm, nuclear features of NE carcinoma or with immunophenotypic documentation

(Microinvasive Neuroendocrine Carcinoma of the Mouse Prostate Gland, NCI Thesaurus/MMHCC)

He slept a scant five hours, and only one with a constitution of iron could have held himself down, as Martin did, day after day, to nineteen consecutive hours of toil.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)