Cant

/kænt/ adj, name, noun, verb

adj, name, noun, verb ·Common ·Middle school level

Meaning at a glance

  • Primary sense: An argot, the jargon of a particular class or subgroup.
  • Grammar: cant is listed as adj, name, noun, verb.
  • Nearest alternatives: about ship, aesopian language, affectation, affectedness.
  • Useful contrasts: candor, flatness, flatten.
  • Usage evidence: Gay people in Britain used to speak a cant called Polari.

How to use "cant"

  1. Start with the primary definition, then check the part of speech before placing the word in a sentence.
  2. Compare nearby synonyms to make sure "cant" carries the exact meaning, tone, and strength you need.
  3. Use the example sentence as a context check. If your sentence uses the word differently, confirm that the grammar still fits.

Meaning check

  • Does the word fit the sentence's grammar?
  • Does it match the intended tone rather than only the dictionary definition?
  • Would a simpler synonym be clearer for the reader?
  • Is there enough surrounding context to prevent ambiguity?

Source and review context

This entry combines structured lexical data with WordToolSet review checks. Definitions, examples, synonyms, and usage notes may come from different source tables, so the page is designed to show evidence from more than one angle before you rely on "cant" in a final draft.

If a word has several senses, prefer the sense that matches your sentence's grammar and surrounding context. A correct definition can still be the wrong choice when the sentence needs a different register, emphasis, or level of specificity.

Before you rely on this definition

Read the first definition as a starting point, then check the example, synonyms, and part of speech before treating "cant" as the right word for your sentence.

If your draft is formal, technical, persuasive, or sensitive, compare "cant" with a nearby alternative so the final choice matches both meaning and reader expectation.

Compare nearby meanings

  • Use synonyms when you need a softer, stronger, simpler, or more specific word.
  • Use antonyms to check the boundary of the meaning and avoid accidental contrast.
  • Use the example sentence to confirm the word behaves naturally in context.
  • Keep the original wording when a replacement adds complexity without improving precision.

Definition decision workflow

1. Identify the role

Check whether "cant" is acting as adj, name, noun, verb in your sentence. A definition is only useful when the grammar matches the way the word is being used.

2. Test the nearest option

Compare it with "about ship" and other nearby choices to see whether the sentence needs a softer, stronger, or more familiar word.

3. Confirm with context

Use the example sentence below as an evidence check, then read your own sentence out loud to catch tone or rhythm problems.

Review note: Definition pages are checked for source coverage, sentence evidence, synonym support, and editorial insight before they are treated as approval-ready pages. If the evidence is too thin, the page remains available to users but is kept out of the approval-facing indexed inventory.

Final meaning check

Before publishing a sentence with "cant", ask whether the word helps the reader understand the idea faster. A precise word should reduce confusion, not simply make the sentence look more polished.

When the definition, synonym evidence, and example context point in the same direction, the word is usually a safer choice. When they conflict, revise the sentence or choose a clearer alternative.

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    An argot, the jargon of a particular class or subgroup. countable, usually

    "He had the look of a prince, but the cant of a fishmonger."

  2. 2
    Side, edge, corner, niche. obsolete

    "under the cant of a hill"

  3. 3
    A parcel, a division. dialectal
  4. 4
    two surfaces meeting at an angle different from 90 degrees wordnet
  5. 5
    A private or secret language used by a religious sect, gang, or other group. countable, uncountable, usually
Show 19 more definitions
  1. 6
    Slope, the angle at which something is set.

    "Owing to the cant of the vessel, the masts hung far out over the water, and from my perch on the cross-trees I had nothing below me but the surface of the bay."

  2. 7
    stock phrases that have become nonsense through endless repetition wordnet
  3. 8
    A language spoken by some Irish Travellers; Shelta. uncountable, usually
  4. 9
    A corner (of a building).
  5. 10
    insincere talk about religion or morals wordnet
  6. 11
    Empty, hypocritical talk. derogatory, uncountable, usually

    "He is too well grounded for all your philoſophical Cant to hurt."

  7. 12
    An outer or external angle.
  8. 13
    a characteristic language of a particular group (as among thieves) wordnet
  9. 14
    Whining speech, such as that used by beggars. uncountable, usually
  10. 15
    An inclination from a horizontal or vertical line; a slope or bevel; a tilt.
  11. 16
    a slope in the turn of a road or track; the outside is higher than the inside in order to reduce the effects of centrifugal force wordnet
  12. 17
    A blazon of a coat of arms that makes a pun upon the name (or, less often, some attribute or function) of the bearer, canting arms. countable, usually
  13. 18
    A movement or throw that overturns something.

    "It is not only of great service in keeping the boat in her due position on the sea, but also in creating a tendency immediately to recover from any sudden cant, or lurch, from a heavy wave; and it is besides beneficial in diminishing the violence of beating against the sides of the vessel which she may go to relieve."

  14. 19
    A call for bidders at a public fair; an auction. obsolete, uncountable, usually

    "[…]but numbers of these tenants or their descendants are now offering to sell their leases by cant,"

  15. 20
    A sudden thrust, push, kick, or other impulse, producing a bias or change of direction; also, the bias or turn so given.

    "to give a ball a cant"

  16. 21
    A segment forming a side piece in the head of a cask.
  17. 22
    A segment of the rim of a wooden cogwheel.
  18. 23
    A piece of wood laid upon the deck of a vessel to support the bulkheads.
  19. 24
    An unfinished log after preliminary cutting.
Verb
  1. 1
    To speak with the jargon of a class or subgroup. intransitive

    "The Doctor here, I will proceed with the learned. / VVhen he diſcourſeth of diſſection, / Or any point of Anatomy: that hee tells you, / Of Vena caua, and of vena porta, / The Meſeraicks, and the Meſenterium. / VVhat does he elſe but cant? […] / Does he not cant? VVho here does vnderſtand him?"

  2. 2
    To set (something) at an angle; to tilt. transitive

    "to cant a cask"

  3. 3
    To divide or parcel out. obsolete, transitive
  4. 4
    heel over wordnet
  5. 5
    To speak in set phrases. intransitive
Show 6 more definitions
  1. 6
    To give a sudden turn or new direction to. transitive

    "to cant round a stick of timber"

  2. 7
    To talk, beg, or preach in a singsong or whining fashion, especially in a false or empty manner. intransitive

    "[I]f he proue not yet / The cunningſt, ranckeſt Rogue that euer Canted, / Ile neuer ſee man againe, […]"

  3. 8
    To bevel an edge or corner. transitive
  4. 9
    Of a blazon, to make a pun that references the bearer of a coat of arms. intransitive
  5. 10
    To overturn so that the contents are emptied. transitive
  6. 11
    To sell by auction, or bid at an auction. obsolete

    "[…]labouring with all their might for preventing the bishops from letting their revenues at a moderate half value[…] at the very instant, when they were every where canting their own land upon short leases, and sacrificing their oldest tenants for a penny an acre advance."

Adjective
  1. 1
    Lively, lusty. British, dialectal, not-comparable
Proper Noun
  1. 1
    A surname.

Synonyms

All synonyms
about shipaesopian languageaffectationaffectednessalertangle

Example

"Gay people in Britain used to speak a cant called Polari."

Common questions

What does "cant" mean?

An argot, the jargon of a particular class or subgroup.

What is a synonym for "cant"?

Common synonyms include: about ship, aesopian language, affectation, affectedness, alert, angle.

How do you use "cant" in a sentence?

Gay people in Britain used to speak a cant called Polari.

How do you pronounce "cant"?

Pronounced /kænt/.

Etymology

Etymology 1

From Latin cantō probably via Old Northern French canter (“sing, tell”). Doublet of chant.

Etymology 2

From Middle English cant (“edge, brink”), from Middle Dutch cant (“point, side, edge”) (Modern Dutch kant (“side, edge”)), ultimately of Celtic or Latin origin. Related to Medieval Latin cantus (“corner, side”), from Latin canthus.

Etymology 3

Unknown, but compare Provençal cantel (“corner, piece”) or Old Northern French cantel (“piece broken off”). The verb is attested from the 15th century, and the noun from the 16th. See cantle, from which cant is possibly back-formed as if it contained the suffix -le.

Etymology 4

From Middle English cant, kaunt, presumably from Middle Low German *kant, perhaps a slang word related to kant (“edge, rim”), from Medieval Latin canthus. Attested from the 13th or 14th century.

Etymology 5

As a German surname, variant of Kant.

More for "cant"

Synonyms

Next best steps

Find stronger synonymsBrowse writing guidesExplore topic clusters