tantamount
adjective
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Although tantamount (from the Anglo-French phrase tant amunter, meaning “to amount to as much”) was used three different ways in the early 17th century—as a noun, verb, and adjective—the adjective form has since proven paramount to English users: it’s still in use while the noun and verb are obsolete. This is not to say that the adjective hasn’t experienced change over the years. While it was once acceptable to use tantamount in a variety of different sentence structures, nowadays it is almost always followed by the word to. And to use it before a noun, as in “the two old friends exchanged tantamount greetings,” would now be considered, er, tantamount to riding a penny-farthing or boneshaker onto the expressway.
Examples of tantamount in a Sentence
Dev Patnaik, Forbes, 12 Jan. 2025
The United States has sent Israel shipments of weapons worth billions of dollars since the start of the armed conflict, despite international condemnation of its assault on Gaza and accusations from human rights groups that its actions there are tantamount to genocide.
—Karoun Demirjian, New York Times, 9 Jan. 2025
Meta's fact-checking partners are rebutting Mark Zuckerberg's suggestion on Tuesday that their work is tantamount to censorship.
—Kate Gibson, CBS News, 8 Jan. 2025
Image With Russian forces holding the initiative on the battlefield, President Vladimir V. Putin has rejected any settlement short of a deal that would be tantamount to Ukrainian surrender.
—Marc Santora, New York Times, 31 Dec. 2024
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Dictionary Entries Near tantamount
Cite this Entry
“Tantamount.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/tantamount. Accessed 20 Jan. 2025.
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tantamount
adjective
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