Word of the Day

Thursday, December 16, 1999

cant

\KANT\ , noun;

The idioms and peculiarities of speech in any sect, class, or occupation.

The use of religious phraseology without understanding or sincerity.

Empty, solemn speech, implying what is not felt; insincere talk; hypocrisy.

A whining manner of speaking, especially of beggars.

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Quotes:

Don Juan delighted London gossipmongers with plentiful allusions to the scandal surrounding the poet's divorce from his young wife of one year and his subsequent flight from English "hypocrisy and cant."

-- Banite Eisler, Byron: Child of Passion, Fool of Fame

Underneath all the grime there was as much sentimental piety and conformist cant.

-- Andrew Sarris, "You Ain't Heard Nothin' Yet"

...the English major from a working-class family who now and then asks a forthright question that cuts through the literary cant.

-- Theodore Solotaroff, "Memoirs for Memorial Day", New York Times, May 29, 1977

Origin:

Cant ultimately derives from Latin cantus, singing, chanting.