scant
1 of 3adjective
ˈskant 
1
dialect
a
: excessively frugal
b
: not prodigal : chary
2
a
: barely or scarcely sufficient
especially : not quite coming up to a stated measure
a scant teaspoon
b
: lacking in amplitude or quantity
scant growth
3
: having a small or insufficient supply
he's fat, and scant of breath
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare scantly adverb
scantness noun
scant
2 of 3adverb
dialect
: scarcely, hardly
scant
3 of 3verb
scanted; scanting; scants
transitive verb
1
: to provide an incomplete supply of
2
: to make small, narrow, or meager
3
: to give scant attention to : slight
4
: to provide with a meager or inadequate portion or supply : stint
Synonyms
Adjective
- exiguous
- hand-to-mouth
- light
- meager
- meagre
- niggardly
- poor
- scanty
- scarce
- skimp
- skimpy
- slender
- slim
- spare
- sparing
- sparse
- stingy
Verb
- nurse
- skimp (on)
- spare
- stint (on)
See all Synonyms & Antonyms 
Example Sentences
Adjective Food was in scant supply. She paid scant attention to the facts. Police found scant evidence of fraud. Verb don't scant the peanut butter on those sandwiches!
Recent Examples on the Web Stephanie Mlot, PCMAG, 16 Sep. 2022 Details are scant, but rangers with the National Park Service reported the skeletal remains were found around 8 p.m. Monday at the lake’s Swim Beach. Nathan Solis, Los Angeles Times, 17 Aug. 2022 Polling is scant, but interest in the referendum appears high. Annie Gowen, Washington Post, 2 Aug. 2022 New business development and home construction are scant. Joseph De Avila, WSJ, 19 June 2022 The stories Caminiti told in rehab, though the patients re-telling them are scant on particulars after all these years, were confirmed in the book by Caminiti’s attorney Terry Yates, who didn’t go into detail because of attorney-client privilege. Matt Young, Chron, 10 May 2022 While details are scant, the new shots contain two major changes. Madison Muller, BostonGlobe.com, 14 Aug. 2022 Per usual with Fargo, character details are scant at the moment. Rick Porter, The Hollywood Reporter, 8 Aug. 2022 Information about how Jynneos performs in people with H.I.V., particularly in those with severe immune problems, was already scant. New York Times, 5 Aug. 2022 Chadd Scott, Forbes, 30 May 2021 Ellen Ruppel Shell, Smithsonian Magazine, 1 Apr. 2022 In most cases, the Electoral College vote is a mere formality that carries no drama and garners scant public attention. Gilbert Garcia, ExpressNews.com, 18 Dec. 2020 Bennett’s story began in southern Georgia’s rural Brantley County, home to scant football tradition when the Bennetts arrived from the Atlanta suburbs in 2004. Laine Higgins And Rachel Bachman, WSJ, 16 Oct. 2020 Yet geriatrics is badly scanted in standard medical training. Joseph Epstein, WSJ, 17 Jan. 2020 Issues that involve race — such as voting-rights cases and challenges to affirmative action in higher education — receive extensive treatment, while other, no less interesting and important questions are scanted or ignored. Carson Holloway, National Review, 20 June 2019 Foxhall’s history of migraine, unlike the self-help books, accommodates human complexity without scanting medicine’s contributions to a condition that affects roughly 1 in 7 people on our planet. Sibbie O'sullivan, Washington Post, 10 June 2019 Yet, in his close attention to what the men inside the White House thought and did, Zeitz scants the larger reasons for their success and eventual downfall. Michael Kazin, The New Republic, 27 Feb. 2018 Hospitals and heroic interventions got the large investments; incrementalists were scanted. Atul Gawande, The New Yorker, 23 Jan. 2017 See More
Adjective
Details are scant, but the title, Blade Runner 2099, hints at a story set 50 years after Denis Villeneuve's Harrison Ford-Ryan Gosling vehicle. Stephanie Mlot, PCMAG, 16 Sep. 2022 Details are scant, but rangers with the National Park Service reported the skeletal remains were found around 8 p.m. Monday at the lake’s Swim Beach. Nathan Solis, Los Angeles Times, 17 Aug. 2022 Polling is scant, but interest in the referendum appears high. Annie Gowen, Washington Post, 2 Aug. 2022 New business development and home construction are scant. Joseph De Avila, WSJ, 19 June 2022 The stories Caminiti told in rehab, though the patients re-telling them are scant on particulars after all these years, were confirmed in the book by Caminiti’s attorney Terry Yates, who didn’t go into detail because of attorney-client privilege. Matt Young, Chron, 10 May 2022 While details are scant, the new shots contain two major changes. Madison Muller, BostonGlobe.com, 14 Aug. 2022 Per usual with Fargo, character details are scant at the moment. Rick Porter, The Hollywood Reporter, 8 Aug. 2022 Information about how Jynneos performs in people with H.I.V., particularly in those with severe immune problems, was already scant. New York Times, 5 Aug. 2022 Adverb
How come scant few of America’s leading art museums own or display his work? Chadd Scott, Forbes, 30 May 2021 Verb
There were few roads or trails or even paths to follow and scant potable water, but plenty of pit vipers and tarantulas. Ellen Ruppel Shell, Smithsonian Magazine, 1 Apr. 2022 In most cases, the Electoral College vote is a mere formality that carries no drama and garners scant public attention. Gilbert Garcia, ExpressNews.com, 18 Dec. 2020 Bennett’s story began in southern Georgia’s rural Brantley County, home to scant football tradition when the Bennetts arrived from the Atlanta suburbs in 2004. Laine Higgins And Rachel Bachman, WSJ, 16 Oct. 2020 Yet geriatrics is badly scanted in standard medical training. Joseph Epstein, WSJ, 17 Jan. 2020 Issues that involve race — such as voting-rights cases and challenges to affirmative action in higher education — receive extensive treatment, while other, no less interesting and important questions are scanted or ignored. Carson Holloway, National Review, 20 June 2019 Foxhall’s history of migraine, unlike the self-help books, accommodates human complexity without scanting medicine’s contributions to a condition that affects roughly 1 in 7 people on our planet. Sibbie O'sullivan, Washington Post, 10 June 2019 Yet, in his close attention to what the men inside the White House thought and did, Zeitz scants the larger reasons for their success and eventual downfall. Michael Kazin, The New Republic, 27 Feb. 2018 Hospitals and heroic interventions got the large investments; incrementalists were scanted. Atul Gawande, The New Yorker, 23 Jan. 2017 See More Word History
Etymology
Adjective
Middle English, from Old Norse skamt, neuter of skammr short
First Known Use
Adjective
14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1a
Adverb
15th century, in the meaning defined above
Verb
circa 1580, in the meaning defined at sense 1
Kids Definition
scant
adjective
ˈskant
1
: barely enough
Ramona paid scant attention to this little speech … Beverly Cleary, Ramona Quimby, Age 8
Beverly Cleary, Ramona Quimby, Age 82
: not quite to a full amount, degree, or extent
He poured a scant cup of milk.
scant 1 of 2
adjective
as in sparse
less plentiful than what is normal, necessary, or desirable jobs for teenagers were scant that summer Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
- sparse
- scarce
- scanty
- meager
- lacking
- poor
- skimpy
- meagre
- light
- mere
- spare
- lowest
- sparing
- small
- insufficient
- short
- exiguous
- skimp
- slender
- inadequate
- stingy
- niggardly
- minimal
- slim
- hand-to-mouth
- least
- deficient
- thin on the ground
- thin
- slightest
- wanting
- slight
- bare-bones
- littlest
- bare
- sterile
- barren
- unfruitful
- unproductive
- infertile
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
- ample
- sufficient
- adequate
- copious
- abundant
- enough
- satisfactory
- plentiful
- generous
- bountiful
- liberal
- tolerable
- rich
- fertile
- plenteous
- fruitful
- prolific
- extra
- fat
- lavish
- excess
- bursting
- luxuriant
- fecund
- flourishing
- thriving
- surplus
- proliferative
- teeming
- blooming
- swarming
scant
2 of 2verb
as in to spare
to use or give out in stingy amounts don't scant the peanut butter on those sandwiches! Synonyms & Similar Words
- spare
- conserve
- preserve
- dole out
- stint (on)
- skimp (on)
- pinch
- shortchange
- nurse
- mete (out)
- portion (out)
- ration (out)
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
- lavish
- pour
- heap
- rain
- shower
Synonym Chooser
Some common synonyms of scant are meager, scanty, skimpy, spare, and sparse. While all these words mean "falling short of what is normal, necessary, or desirable," scant suggests a falling short of what is desired or desirable rather than of what is essential.
in January the daylight hours are scant
The meanings of meager and scant largely overlap; however, meager implies the absence of elements, qualities, or numbers necessary to a thing's richness, substance, or potency.
a meager portion of meat
The words scanty and scant are synonyms, but do differ in nuance. Specifically, scanty stresses insufficiency in amount, quantity, or extent.
supplies too scanty to last the winter
The synonyms skimpy and scant are sometimes interchangeable, but skimpy usually suggests niggardliness or penury as the cause of the deficiency.
tacky housing developments on skimpy lots
While in some cases nearly identical to scant, spare may suggest a slight falling short of adequacy or merely an absence of superfluity.
a spare, concise style of writing
The words sparse and scant can be used in similar contexts, but sparse implies a thin scattering of units.
a sparse population