cant
noun/kænt/
/kænt/
[uncountable]- statements, especially about moral or religious issues, that are not sincere and that you cannot trust synonym hypocrisy
- His speech was full of political, social and religious cant.
Word Originnoun early 16th cent.: probably from Latin cantare ‘to sing’. The early meaning was ‘musical sound, singing’; in the mid 17th cent. this gave rise to the senses ‘whining manner of speaking’ and ‘form of words repeated mechanically in this manner’ (for example a beggar's plea), hence ‘jargon’ (of beggars and other such groups).Want to learn more?
Find out which words work together and produce more natural sounding English with the Oxford Collocations Dictionary app.
Check pronunciation:
cant