arrant

adjective

ar·​rant ˈa-rənt 

ˈer-ənt

: being notoriously without moderation : extreme

we are arrant knaves, all; believe none of us

—William Shakespeare

arrantly adverb

Synonyms

• absolute
• all-out
• blank
• blooming [chiefly British]
• bodacious [Southern & Midland]
• categorical
• categoric
• clean
• complete
• consummate
• crashing
• damn
• damned
• dead
• deadly
• definite
• downright
• dreadful
• fair
• flat
• flat-out
• out-and-out
• outright
• perfect
• plumb
• profound
• pure
• rank
• regular
• sheer
• simple
• stark
• stone
• straight-out
• thorough
• thoroughgoing
• total
• unadulterated
• unalloyed
• unconditional
• unmitigated
• unqualified
• utter
• very

Examples of arrant in a Sentence

that statement is complete and arrant nonsense

Recent Examples on the Web

Some are just arrant fantasy. —Patt Morrison, Los Angeles Times, 9 Mar. 2021

Well, both of those statements are arrant nonsense. —CBS News, 19 Jan. 2020

Word History

Etymology

Middle English arraunt, variant of erraunt "wandering, itinerant" (reflecting lowering of ĕ to ă before r); arraunt, erraunt in sense "notorious, reprobate" (hence, "extreme") from its use in the collocation theef erraunt, erraunt theif "outlawed robber roaming the country" — more at errant

Note: The two spellings arrant and errant (and presumably the associated pronunciations) were used indiscriminately into the 17th century, after which arrant became limited to its current meaning; since Robert Baker's Reflections on the English Language (1770), usage commentators have considered errant in the sense "arrant" as an error.

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined above

Kids Definition

arrant

adjective

ar·​rant ˈar-ənt 

: out-and-out, complete

an arrant fool

arrantly adverb