Synonyms for scant
- adjective
- verb
Most common
inadequate insufficient skimpy scanty limited jejune incapacious
Synonyms by meaning
Adjective
1. Insufficient — not full, large, or plentiful; scarcely sufficient; scanty; meager
insufficient, meager US CA, meagre UK, scanty, skimpy, inadequate, sparse, scarce, poor, lean, rare, spare, thin, pitiful, narrow, sparing, stingy, niggardly, mean, paltry, slender, parsimonious, scrubby
Verb
Definitions
- adj. 1
Not full, large, or plentiful; scarcely sufficient; scanty; meager.
a scant allowance of provisions or water; a scant pattern of cloth for a garment
- adj. 2
Sparing; parsimonious; chary.
- v. 1
To limit in amount or share; to stint.
to scant someone in provisions; to scant ourselves in the use of necessaries
Forms
- Past participle
- scanted
e.g. scanted → stinted, skimped, limited, straitened…
Example sentences
- inadequate At times like this, words are woefully inadequate.
- insufficient Due to insufficient sales, many shops are closed.
- skimpy Why are all the armour sets in this game so skimpy?
- scanty The rice crop was scanty this year.
- limited Last week's snow was limited to a very small area.
- jejune They all hold jejune worldviews.
Popularity over time
| Word | 1850 → 2019 | Trend |
|---|---|---|
| scant | rising | |
| inadequate | falling | |
| insufficient | falling | |
| skimpy | rising | |
| scanty | falling | |
| limited | steady |
Use in printed books, per decade from 1850 to 2019.
By length
- 4 letters
- mean1, poor1, rare1, thin1, lean1
- 5 letters
- short1, light1, limit2, spare1, stint1, skimp1
- 6 letters
- little2, narrow2, slight1, scarce1, sparse1, meager2, stingy2, meagre, paltry2, skimpy2, scanty2, scrimp1, jejune2
- 7 letters
- limited3, slender2, pitiful3, sparing2, scrubby2
- 8 letters
- straiten
- 9 letters
- deficient3, niggardly3
- 10 letters
- inadequate4
- 11 letters
- incapacious
- 12 letters
- insufficient4, parsimonious5
The small number after each word is its number of syllables (limit2 = 2 syllables).