arrant
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈæɹ(ə)nt/
enpr: ărʹənt
note: without the Mary–marry–merry merger
ipa: /ˈæɹənt/
note: Mary–marry–merry merger
ipa: /ˈɛɹənt/
homophone: errant (Mary–marry–merry merger)
Forms: form: more arrant
form: arranter
form: most arrant
form: arrantest
form: errant
Etymology: A variant of errant, from Middle English erraunt [and other forms], from Anglo-Norman erraunt, from Old French errant, the present participle of errer (“to walk (to); to wander (to); (figuratively) to travel, voyage”), and then:
* from Vulgar Latin iterō (compare Late Latin itinerō, itineror (“to travel, voyage”)), from Latin iter (“a route (including a journey, trip; a course; a path; a road)”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₁ey- (“to go”); and
* from Latin errāns (“straying, errant; wandering”), the present active participle of errō (“to rove, wander; to get lost, go astray; to err, wander from the truth”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₁ers- (“to flow”).
The original sense was sense 3 (“roving around, wandering”). Due to the word being used to describe disreputable persons who wandered about (for example, arrant knave and arrant thief), it came to be used as an intensifier (sense 1: “complete; downright; utter”) and to have a negative meaning (sense 2: “very bad; despicable”).
Senses: examples: text: an arrant knave    arrant nonsense
text: And if any manner of perſon attempted to moue the King to infringe any parte of thys ordynaunce, and that being knowne, for the firſt time, he ſhould be depriued of his goodes and poſſeſſions, and for the ſecond time, to be drawen thorough the Citie, and so put to execution as an arrant traytor.
ref: 1569, Richard Grafton, “Richarde the Seconde”, in A Chronicle at Large and Meere History of the Affayres of Englande […], volume II, London: […] Henry Denham, […], for Richarde Tottle and Humffrey Toye, →OCLC, page 351:
text: To a Nunnery goe, vve are arrant knaues all, / Beleeue none of vs, to a Nunnery goe.
ref: c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shake-speare, The Tragicall Historie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke: […] (First Quarto), London: […] [Valentine Simmes] for N[icholas] L[ing] and Iohn Trundell, published 1603, →OCLC, [Act III, scene i]:
text: She bags of Gold out of her boſome drevv, / VVhich ſhe to Sots and arrant Ideots threvv.
ref: 1630, Michael Drayton, “The Legend of Robert, Duke of Normandy”, in Poems: […], London: […] Willi[am] Stansby for Iohn Smethwicke, →OCLC, page 355:
text: He cals her on a ſudden, all to naught; ſhe is a ſtrumpet, a light huswife, a bitch, an arrant whore.
ref: 1638, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], “Symptomes of Iealousie, Fear, Sorrow, Suspition, Strange Actions, Gestures, Outrages, Locking Up, Oathes, Trials, Lawes, &c.”, in The Anatomy of Melancholy. […], 5th edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] [Robert Young, Miles Flesher, and Leonard Lichfield and William Turner] for Henry Cripps, →OCLC, partition 3, section 3, member 2, subsection 1, page 610:
text: There be, vvho knovvs not that there be of Proteſtants and profeſſors vvho live and dye in as arrant an implicit faith, as any lay Papiſt of Loretto.
ref: 1644, John Milton, Areopagitica; a Speech of Mr. John Milton for the Liberty of Unlicenc’d Printing, to the Parlament of England, London: [s.n.], →OCLC, page 26:
text: VVherefore vvhoſoever interprets the Nevv Teſtament ſo as to ſhuffle off the aſſurance of Revvard and Puniſhment after the death of the Body, is either an arrant Infidel or horrid Blaſphemer.
ref: 1660, H[enry] More, chapter XIII, in An Explanation of the Grand Mystery of Godliness; […], London: […] J[ames] Flesher, for W[illiam] Morden […], →OCLC, book I, pages 167–168:
text: […] I both ſavv and diligently examin'd that piece (Plank, stone, or both ſhall I name it) of Lignum foſſile [fossilized wood] taken out of a certain Quarry thereof at Aqua Sparta not far from Rome, […] [H]e that ſhall behold its grain, ſo exquisitely undulated, and varied, together vvith its colour, manner of hevving, chips, and other moſt perfect reſemblances, vvill never ſcruple to pronounce it arrant vvood.
ref: 1664, J[ohn] E[velyn], “. Chapter XXX. Of Timber the Seasoning and Uses, and of Fuel.”, in Sylva, or A Discourse of Forest-trees and the Propagation of Timber in His Majesties Dominions. […], London: […] Jo[hn] Martyn, and Ja[mes] Allestry, printers to the Royal Society, […], →OCLC, page 95:
text: And is not this Arrant nonſenſe? VVhat could he mean by ſuch ſtuff? Or could any Man in his VVits vvrite it?
ref: 1708, Thomas Bennet, “That the Primitive Christians in the Fourth Century, Join’d in the Use of Diverse Precompos’d Set Forms of Prayer, besides the Lord’s Prayer and Psalms, Prov’d from St. Epiphanius”, in A Brief History of the Joint Use of Precompos’d Set Forms of Prayer; […], 2nd edition, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Printed at the University, for Edmund Jeffery, […]; and to be sold by James Knapton […], →OCLC, page 187:
text: Every servant an arrant thief as to victuals and drink, and every comer and goer as errant a thief of every thing he or she can lay their hands on.
ref: 1724 May 1 (date written; Gregorian calendar), Jonathan Swift, “The Blunders, Deficiencies, Distresses, and Misfortunes of Quilca. […]”, in Thomas Sheridan, John Nichols, editors, The Works of the Rev. Jonathan Swift, […], new edition, volume VIII, London: […] J[oseph] Johnson, […], published 1801, →OCLC, page 384:
text: He is an arrant Scrub, I aſſure you.
ref: 1749, Henry Fielding, “In which the Surgeon Makes His Second Appearance”, in The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, volume III, London: A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC, book VIII, page 164:
text: Such as I have deſcribed Don Rodrigo, who, notvvithſtanding the Don he had prefixed to his name, vvas an arrant raſcal, he captivated the miſtreſs of the tennis-court, vvho vvas a vvoman about forty years of age, rich and agreeable enough, and in the fifteenth month of her vvidovvhood.
ref: 1751, [Alain-René Lesage], “The Sequel of the Ring Retrieved. Gil Blas Quits the Profession of Physic, and Makes His Retreat from Valladolid.”, in [Tobias George Smollett], transl., The Adventures of Gil Blas of Santillane. […], 3rd edition, volume I, London: […] J. Osborn, […], →OCLC, book II, page 132:
text: He was a tight brisk little man, with the air of an arrant old Bachelor.
ref: 1820 January 1, Geoffrey Crayon [pseudonym; Washington Irving], “Christmas Eve”, in The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent., number V, New York, N.Y.: […] C[ornelius] S. Van Winkle, […], →OCLC, page 385:
text: Nothing, I am convinced, but the poetical temperament, that hurried me into the scrape, brought me out of it without my becoming an arrant vagabond.
ref: 1824, Geoffrey Crayon [pseudonym; Washington Irving], “Buckthorne, or The Young Man of Great Expectations”, in Tales of a Traveller, part 2 (Buckthorne and His Friends), Philadelphia, Pa.: H[enry] C[harles] Carey & I[saac] Lea, […], →OCLC, page 99:
text: [page 16] The liquor soon mounted into their heads, as it generally does even with the arrantest topers newly landed from sea, and they began capering about most obstreperously. […] [page 581] Then tell me; art thou not an arrant, all-grasping, intermeddling, monopolizing, heathenish old scamp, to be one day making legs, and the next day coffins to clap them in, and yet again life-buoys out of those same coffins?
ref: 1851 November 14, Herman Melville, “The Spouter-Inn” and “The Deck”, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC, pages 16 and 581:
text: Cyril [Lucaris] then sent the document to Geneva, where the confession was printed in a Latin version. The publication of it created a sensation in Europe. Here was the first ecclesiastic in the Greek Church professing the most thorough-going Protestant tenets, even echoing arrant Calvinism!
ref: 1908, Walter F[rederic] Adeney, “Cyril Lucar and the Reformation”, in Charles A[ugustus] Briggs, Stewart D[ingwall] F[ordyce] Salmond, editors, The Greek and Eastern Churches (The International Theological Library), New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, →OCLC, division II (The Modern Greek Church), page 319:
text: Do teenagers want cellphones because they are all arrant individualists, or is this just another example of conformity induced by mass marketing?
ref: 1999 October 9, “Ring in the new”, in The Economist, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 21:
synonyms: word: out-and-out
word: unmitigated
word: abject
word: frightful
word: absolute
word: arrant
word: categoric
word: categorical
word: complete
word: consummate
word: downright
word: full
word: full-blown
word: full-bore
word: full-on
word: mere
word: outright
word: out-and-out
word: perfect
word: proper
word: pure
word: rank
word: regular
word: right
word: root and branch
word: sheer
word: straight-out
word: thorough
word: thoroughgoing
word: total
word: unadulterated
word: unalloyed
word: unattenuated
word: uncompromising
word: unconditional
word: unfettered
word: unmitigated
word: unqualified
word: unreserved
word: unrestricted
word: utter
word: wholesale
glosses: Complete; downright; utter.
raw_tags: with a negative connotation
examples: text: [W]ho ſo forward to accuſe, to debaſe, to revile, to crow-treade an other as the arranteſt fellow in a country?
ref: 1593, Gabriell Haruey [i.e., Gabriel Harvey], Pierces Supererogation: Or A New Prayse of the Old Asse. A Preparative to Certaine Larger Discourses, Intituled Nashes S. Fame, London: […] Iohn Wolfe, →OCLC; republished as John Payne Collier, editor, Pierces Supererogation: Or A New Prayse of the Old Asse. […] (Miscellaneous Tracts. Temp. Eliz. & Jac. I; no. 8), [London]: [s.n.], [1870], →OCLC, page 9:
text: The truth on't is, mine's as arrant a VVidow-Mother, to her poor Child, as any's in Engand: She vvo'nt ſo much as let one have ſix-pence in one's Pocket, to ſee a Motion, or the Dancing of the Ropes, or—
ref: 1676 December 11 (first performance), [William] Wycherley, The Plain-Dealer. A Comedy. […], London: […] T[homas] N[ewcomb] for James Magnes and Rich[ard] Bentley […], published 1677, →OCLC, Act III, page 46:
synonyms: word: abysmal
word: awful
word: chronic
word: coarse
word: crap
word: crummy
word: dire
word: disagreeable
word: dismal
word: dreadful
word: foul
word: hideous
word: hopeless
word: horrendous
word: horrid
word: horrible
word: inadequate
word: incompetent
word: inelegant
word: intolerable
word: inferior
word: loathsome
word: lousy
word: miserable
word: naff
word: negative
word: odious
word: pathetic
word: peak
word: rotten
word: rubbish
word: shitawful
word: sloppy
word: terrible
word: unfavorable
word: abandoned
word: arrant
word: bad
word: bad apple
word: bad seed
word: baleful
word: baneful
word: base
word: dark
word: deleterious
word: depraved
word: despicable
word: detrimental
word: devilish
word: diabolical
word: evil
word: flagitious
word: harmful
word: ill-intentioned
word: ill-natured
word: immoral
word: incorrigible
word: iniquitous
word: iniquous
word: injurious
word: knavish
word: malefic
word: maleficent
word: malevolent
word: malicious
word: malign
word: malignant
word: nefarious
word: niddering
word: nidering
word: niding
word: nithing
word: no-good
word: peccaminous
word: pernicious
word: reprehensible
word: reprobate
word: satanic
word: scathful
word: sinful
word: sinister
word: sordid
word: sullen
word: ungodly
word: unholy
word: vicious
word: vile
word: villainous
word: wicked
word: wrong
antonyms: word: awful
word: bad
word: detestable
word: disagreeable
word: dreadful
word: unsatisfactory
glosses: Very bad; despicable.
examples: text: Hence arrant preachers, humming out / A common-place or two, […]
ref: 1586, William Warner, “Albion’s England”, in The Works of the English Poets, from Chaucer to Cowper; […], volume IV, London: […] J[oseph] Johnson [et al.], published 1810, →OCLC, book VIII, chapter XLVI, page 610:
glosses: Obsolete form of errant (“roving around; wandering”).
Derived terms: arrantly