Smattering

//ˈsmætɚɪŋ// noun, verb

noun, verb ·Moderate ·High school level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A superficial or shallow knowledge of a subject.

    "She knows a smattering of Greek, but not enough to carry on a conversation."

  2. 2
    a slight or superficial understanding of a subject wordnet
  3. 3
    A small number or amount of something.

    "There’s only a smattering of people who oppose the first amendment."

  4. 4
    a small number or amount wordnet
Verb
  1. 1
    present participle and gerund of smatter form-of, gerund, participle, present

Synonyms

All synonyms
handfula little learningaceamateuramateurishamateurism

Antonyms

All antonyms
oodles

Example

More examples

"I only speak a smattering of Japanese."

Etymology

Etymology 1

From smatter + -ing.

Etymology 2

From Middle English smateringe, smattrynge, equivalent to smatter + -ing.

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.