Arrant - What does it mean?
arrant | |
Utter; complete.
* circa 1600 , (William Shakespeare), (Hamlet) , scene 1:
* “
The difference between arrant and is:
arrant
English
Alternative forms
* (l) (obsolete)Adjective
(er)- arrant nonsense!'' Thomas Bennet, A Brief History of the Joint Use of Recompos'd Set Forms of Prayer...to wich is annexed a Discourse of the Gost of Prayer],
p. 187
- We are arrant knaves all; believe none of us.
Usage notes
Particularly used in the phrase “arrant' knaves”, quoting ''Hamlet,'' and “' arrant nonsense”.Safire, 2006, considers “arrant nonsense” to be “wedded words”, a form of a fixed phrase. Some dictionaries consider arrant simply an alternative form of errant, but in usage they have long since split. The word has long been considered archaic, may be confused with errant, and is used primarily in , on which basis some recommend against using it.References
arrant/errant”, Common Errors in English Usage, Paul Brians *
On Language: Arrant Nonsense, (William Safire), January 22, 2006, (New York Times) * Merriam–Webster’s dictionary of English usage, 1995,
“errant, arrant”, pp. 406–407