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Scant vs Smidgen - What's the difference?

scant | smidgen |

As nouns the difference between scant and smidgen

is that scant is (masonry) a block of stone sawn on two sides down to the bed level while smidgen is a very small quantity or amount.

As an adjective scant

is very little, very few.

As a verb scant

is to limit in amount or share; to stint.

As an adverb scant

is with difficulty; scarcely; hardly.

scant

English

Adjective

(er)
  • Very little, very few.
    • "After his previous escapades, Mary had scant reason to believe John."
  • Not full, large, or plentiful; scarcely sufficient; scanty; meager; not enough.
    • a scant''' allowance of provisions or water; a '''scant pattern of cloth for a garment
  • * Ridley
    • His sermon was scant , in all, a quarter of an hour.
  • Sparing; parsimonious; chary.
  • * Shakespeare
    • Be somewhat scanter of your maiden presence.

    Synonyms

    * few, little, slight * (l)

    Antonyms

    * ample, plenty

    Derived terms

    * scanty

    Related terms

    * scantily

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To limit in amount or share; to stint.
    • to scant''' someone in provisions; to '''scant ourselves in the use of necessaries
  • * Shakespeare
    • Scant not my cups.
  • * Francis Bacon
    • where man hath a great living laid together and where he is scanted
  • * Dryden
    • I am scanted in the pleasure of dwelling on your actions.
  • To fail, or become less; to scantle.
    • The wind scants .

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (masonry) A block of stone sawn on two sides down to the bed level.
  • (masonry) A sheet of stone.
  • (wood) A slightly thinner measurement of a standard wood size.

    • Quotations

    * (English Citations of "scant")

    Adverb

    (-)
  • With difficulty; scarcely; hardly.
  • * Fuller
    • So weak that he was scant able to go down the stairs.
    (Francis Bacon)

    Anagrams

    * *

    smidgen

    English

    Alternative forms

    * smidge, smidgeon, smidgin

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A very small quantity or amount.
    • Would you like some more cake? — I'll have a smidgen .
    Move it a smidgen to the right.

    Usage notes

    Some cookbooks and manufacturers of kitchen measurement sets have attempted to define a smidgen' for recipes. Anything between 1/25th and 1/48th of a teaspoon may be found, 1/32nd being perhaps the most commonly used. Other commonly used measures for small amounts include tad, dash, pinch, and drop. There seems to be some consensus of tad being the largest in this set and ' smidgen being larger than a drop but smaller than a pinch.

    Synonyms

    * see * hair's breadth