arrant

Also used as

arrant is also the obsolete form of errant.

Examples of arrant in a sentence

• To a Nunnery goe, vve are arrant knaues all, / Beleeue none of vs, to a Nunnery goe.c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shake-speare, The Tragicall Historie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke: […] (First Quarto), London: […]...
• She bags of Gold out of her boſome drevv, / VVhich ſhe to Sots and arrant Ideots threvv.1630, Michael Drayton, “The Legend of Robert, Duke of Normandy”, in Poems: […], London: […] Willi[am] Stansby for Iohn Smethwicke, →OCLC...
• He cals her on a ſudden, all to naught; ſhe is a ſtrumpet, a light huswife, a bitch, an arrant whore.1638, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], “Symptomes of Iealousie, Fear, Sorrow, Suspition, Strange Actions, Gestures, Outrages...
• 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.1644, John Milton, Areopagitica; a Speech of Mr. John Milton for the Liberty of Unlicenc’d Printing, to the Parlament of England, London...

Synonyms of arrant

• out-and-out
• unmitigated
• abject
• frightful
• absolute
• prize
• clean
• categoric
• categorical
• complete

Antonyms

• acceptable
• agreeable
• all right
• amazing
• awesome
• beatific
• bene
• blissful
• bodacious
• bona

All synonyms and antonyms of arrant

Forms of arrant

Origin of arrant

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”).

Words formed from arrant

• arrantly

Questions about arrant

What does arrant mean?

Arrant means complete; downright; utter.

How do you use arrant in a sentence?

To a Nunnery goe, vve are arrant knaues all, / Beleeue none of vs, to a Nunnery goe.

What part of speech is arrant?

Arrant can be an adjective or a proper noun.

How do you pronounce arrant?

Arrant is pronounced /ˈæɹ(ə)nt/ (UK).