scant

Meanings

Adjective

• Not full, large, or plentiful; scarcely sufficient; scanty; meager.
• Sparing; parsimonious; chary.

Verb

• To limit in amount or share; to stint.
• To fail, or become less; to scantle.

Noun

• A small piece or quantity.
• Scarcity; lack.
• A block of stone sawn on two sides down to the bed level.
• A sheet of stone.
• A slightly thinner measurement of a standard wood size.

Adverb

• With difficulty; scarcely; hardly.

Related

Similar words

• little, few, slight

Opposite words

• ample,

Origin

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