The most popular online dictionary and thesaurus for learners of English
cant
noun [U] /kænt/Definition
› statements, especially on religious or moral subjects, that are not sincerely believed by the person making them: Shelley's friendship with Byron was rooted in their shared contempt for cant and hypocrisy.Nonsense › special words used by a particular group of people such as thieves, lawyers, or priests, often in order to keep things secretForms of languages and specialist dialects
(Definition of cant noun from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus
© Cambridge University Press)
Focus on the pronunciation of cant
Browse related topics
You are looking at an entry to do with Forms of languages & specialist dialects, but you might be interested in these topics from the Language topic area:
- Figurative use of language
- Foreign words & phrases used in English
- Forms of the English language
- Language names
- Letters of alphabets
- Linguistic terms & linguistic style
- Linguistics: both, all, each & every
- Linguistics: connecting words joining words or phrases with similar or related meanings
- Linguistics: connecting words which express a condition
- Linguistics: connecting words which express a contrast
- Linguistics: connecting words which introduce a cause or reason
- Linguistics: expressions telling people to stop doing something
- Linguistics: grammatical terms
- Linguistics: intensifying expressions
- Linguistics: interjections
- Linguistics: morphology & parts of words
- Linguistics: parts of speech
- Linguistics: personal pronouns
- Linguistics: phonology & phonetics
- Linguistics: possessive forms
- Linguistics: question words & expressions
- Linguistics: reflexive forms
- Linguistics: relative forms
- Linguistics: sentences & expressions
- Linguistics: sounds used as interjections
- Linguistics: terminology & vocabulary
- Linguistics: verb forms, tenses & types of verbs
- Linguistics: very & extreme
- Punctuation
- Using other languages
- Ways of speaking
Browse the Thesaurus
SMART Thesaurus: Forms of languages & specialist dialects
Synonyms and related words:
- -speak suffix
- argot noun
- colloquialism noun
- Creole noun (LANGUAGE)
- dead language noun
- jargon noun
- lingo noun
- middle adjective
- newspeak noun
- non-standard adjective (LANGUAGE)
- officialese noun
- old adjective (LANGUAGE)
- oral adjective (SPOKEN)
- original noun
- rhyming slang noun
- slang noun
- slangy adjective
- telegramese noun
- tongue noun (LANGUAGE)
- verbal adjective (SPOKEN)
Our dictionaries
Word of the Day
Blog
Read our blog about how the English language behaves.
New Words
Find words and meanings that have just started to be used in English, and let us know what you think of them.
