Cant

Quick meaning: Cant is a noun meaning (countable) An argot, the jargon of a particular class or subgroup.

Meaning

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

More Meanings

1. (countable, uncountable) A private or secret language used by a religious sect, gang, or other group.
2. A language spoken by some Irish Travellers; Shelta.
3. (uncountable, derogatory) Empty, hypocritical talk.
4. (uncountable) Whining speech, such as that used by beggars.
5. (intransitive) To speak with the jargon of a class or subgroup.
6. (countable, heraldry) 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.
7. (obsolete) A call for bidders at a public fair; an auction.

Example Sentences

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

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

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

The German population as a whole had been fed 12 years of Nazi propaganda, including demonizing and dehumanizing cant about homosexual men and women.

Word Forms

• cants
• canting
• canted

Synonyms for cant

Depending on context, synonyms include argot, jargon, slang, corner, bevel, slope.

Related Words

Related dictionary entries include jargon, slang, buzzword, lingo, vernacular, argot.

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