See smattering in All languages combined, or Wiktionary
Download JSON data for smattering meaning in English (9.4kB)
{
"etymology_number": 1,
"etymology_templates": [
{
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "smatter",
"3": "ing"
},
"expansion": "smatter + -ing",
"name": "suffix"
}
],
"etymology_text": "From smatter + -ing.",
"forms": [
{
"form": "smatterings",
"tags": [
"plural"
]
}
],
"head_templates": [
{
"args": {
"1": "~"
},
"expansion": "smattering (countable and uncountable, plural smatterings)",
"name": "en-noun"
}
],
"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "noun",
"senses": [
{
"categories": [],
"examples": [
{
"text": "She knows a smattering of Greek, but not enough to carry on a conversation."
},
{
"text": "1529, Thomas More, The Supplycacyon of Soulys [The Supplication of Souls], London: W. Rastell, Book 2,\n[…] he had a lytell smatterynge in the lawe: […]"
},
{
"ref": "1694, Mary Astell, A Serious Proposal to the Ladies, for the Advancement of their True and Greatest Interest, London: R. Wilkin, page 153",
"text": "If any object against a Learned Education, that it will make Women vain and assuming, and instead of correcting, encrease their Pride: I grant, that a smattering in Learning may; for it has this effect on the Men, none so Dogmatical, and so forward to shew their Parts as your little Pretenders to Science.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "1907, E.M. Forster, The Longest Journey, Part II, XX [Uniform ed., p. 201]",
"text": "It’s easy enough to be a beak when you’re young and athletic, and can offer the latest University smattering. The difficulty is to keep your place when you get old and stiff, and younger smatterers are pushing up behind you."
},
{
"ref": "1951, Sinclair Lewis, chapter 2, in World So Wide",
"text": "He had only a mail-order smattering of music, painting; he had never read Dante or Goethe nor anything of Shakespeare except the plays on which he had been spoon-fed at Amherst […]",
"type": "quotation"
}
],
"glosses": [
"A superficial or shallow knowledge of a subject."
],
"id": "en-smattering-en-noun-YSOHU7tY",
"links": [
[
"superficial",
"superficial"
],
[
"shallow",
"shallow"
],
[
"knowledge",
"knowledge"
],
[
"subject",
"subject"
]
],
"tags": [
"countable",
"uncountable"
],
"translations": [
{
"_dis1": "98 2",
"code": "bg",
"lang": "Bulgarian",
"roman": "povǎrhnostni znanija",
"sense": "superficial knowledge",
"word": "повърхностни знания"
},
{
"_dis1": "98 2",
"code": "ca",
"lang": "Catalan",
"sense": "superficial knowledge",
"tags": [
"feminine",
"plural"
],
"word": "nocions"
},
{
"_dis1": "98 2",
"code": "cmn",
"lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
"roman": "pímáo",
"sense": "superficial knowledge",
"word": "皮毛"
},
{
"_dis1": "98 2",
"code": "nl",
"lang": "Dutch",
"sense": "superficial knowledge",
"tags": [
"neuter"
],
"word": "greintje"
},
{
"_dis1": "98 2",
"code": "fr",
"lang": "French",
"sense": "superficial knowledge",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "rudiment"
},
{
"_dis1": "98 2",
"code": "de",
"lang": "German",
"sense": "superficial knowledge",
"tags": [
"neuter"
],
"word": "Halbwissen"
},
{
"_dis1": "98 2",
"code": "de",
"lang": "German",
"sense": "superficial knowledge",
"tags": [
"feminine"
],
"word": "oberflächliche Kenntnis"
},
{
"_dis1": "98 2",
"code": "de",
"lang": "German",
"sense": "superficial knowledge",
"tags": [
"feminine"
],
"word": "bruchstückhafte Kenntnis"
},
{
"_dis1": "98 2",
"code": "de",
"lang": "German",
"sense": "superficial knowledge",
"tags": [
"feminine"
],
"word": "Vorkenntnis"
},
{
"_dis1": "98 2",
"code": "de",
"lang": "German",
"sense": "superficial knowledge",
"tags": [
"feminine"
],
"word": "rudimentäre Kenntnis"
},
{
"_dis1": "98 2",
"code": "ga",
"lang": "Irish",
"sense": "superficial knowledge",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "smeadar"
},
{
"_dis1": "98 2",
"code": "ga",
"lang": "Irish",
"sense": "superficial knowledge",
"tags": [
"feminine"
],
"word": "salacharaíl"
},
{
"_dis1": "98 2",
"code": "it",
"lang": "Italian",
"sense": "superficial knowledge",
"word": "infarinatura"
},
{
"_dis1": "98 2",
"code": "ja",
"lang": "Japanese",
"roman": "sukoshi",
"sense": "superficial knowledge",
"word": "少し"
},
{
"_dis1": "98 2",
"alt": "なまかじり",
"code": "ja",
"lang": "Japanese",
"roman": "namakajiri",
"sense": "superficial knowledge",
"word": "生噛じり"
},
{
"_dis1": "98 2",
"code": "la",
"lang": "Latin",
"sense": "superficial knowledge",
"tags": [
"feminine"
],
"word": "scientiola"
},
{
"_dis1": "98 2",
"code": "pt",
"lang": "Portuguese",
"sense": "superficial knowledge",
"tags": [
"informal",
"masculine",
"plural"
],
"word": "laivos"
},
{
"_dis1": "98 2",
"code": "ru",
"lang": "Russian",
"roman": "povérxnostnoje znánije",
"sense": "superficial knowledge",
"tags": [
"neuter"
],
"word": "пове́рхностное зна́ние"
},
{
"_dis1": "98 2",
"code": "ru",
"lang": "Russian",
"roman": "koje-štó",
"sense": "superficial knowledge",
"word": "кое-что́"
},
{
"_dis1": "98 2",
"code": "es",
"lang": "Spanish",
"sense": "superficial knowledge",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "chapurreo"
},
{
"_dis1": "98 2",
"code": "es",
"lang": "Spanish",
"sense": "superficial knowledge",
"tags": [
"feminine",
"plural"
],
"word": "nociones"
},
{
"_dis1": "98 2",
"code": "es",
"lang": "Spanish",
"sense": "superficial knowledge",
"tags": [
"masculine",
"plural"
],
"word": "rudimentos"
},
{
"_dis1": "98 2",
"code": "uk",
"lang": "Ukrainian",
"roman": "poverxove znannja",
"sense": "superficial knowledge",
"tags": [
"neuter"
],
"word": "поверхове знання"
}
]
},
{
"categories": [],
"examples": [
{
"text": "There’s only a smattering of people who oppose the first amendment."
},
{
"ref": "2004 April 12, Dana Goodyear, “Westville”, in The New Yorker",
"text": "More sophisticated dishes, like trout, with a heavy smattering of finely minced rosemary between the filets, are simple and au naturel: the trout comes with a lemon wedge, a bed of mixed greens, and the head.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "2011 October 24, Suzanne Goldenberg, “The mission to clean up Mount Everest”, in The Guardian",
"text": "By the standards of the 70s, when the main climbing routes were littered with discarded tents and food packets, Everest is a lot cleaner, with just a smattering of plastic bottles and sweet wrappers on the rocky plateau that is base camp.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "2016 November 1, Teddy Greenstein, “Jim Harbaugh rates Wrigley Field atmosphere 'A+++'”, in Chicago Tribune",
"text": "He was introduced to a smattering of boos from the crowd, a sign of the presence of fans from Notre Dame and other Big Ten schools.",
"type": "quotation"
}
],
"glosses": [
"A small number or amount of something."
],
"id": "en-smattering-en-noun-4BTHOlo6",
"links": [
[
"number",
"number"
],
[
"amount",
"amount"
]
],
"synonyms": [
{
"_dis1": "9 91",
"sense": "small amount",
"word": "modicum"
}
],
"tags": [
"countable",
"uncountable"
],
"translations": [
{
"_dis1": "0 100",
"code": "bg",
"lang": "Bulgarian",
"roman": "malko količestvo",
"sense": "small number",
"word": "малко количество"
},
{
"_dis1": "0 100",
"code": "nl",
"lang": "Dutch",
"sense": "small number",
"tags": [
"neuter"
],
"word": "handvol"
},
{
"_dis1": "0 100",
"code": "de",
"lang": "German",
"sense": "small number",
"tags": [
"feminine"
],
"word": "Handvoll"
},
{
"_dis1": "0 100",
"code": "de",
"lang": "German",
"sense": "small number",
"tags": [
"feminine"
],
"word": "kleine Menge"
},
{
"_dis1": "0 100",
"code": "de",
"lang": "German",
"sense": "small number",
"tags": [
"feminine"
],
"word": "geringe Anzahl"
},
{
"_dis1": "0 100",
"code": "ja",
"lang": "Japanese",
"roman": "shōsū",
"sense": "small number",
"tags": [
"numeral"
],
"word": "少数"
},
{
"_dis1": "0 100",
"code": "ja",
"english": "amount",
"lang": "Japanese",
"roman": "shōryō",
"sense": "small number",
"word": "少量"
}
]
}
],
"sounds": [
{
"ipa": "/ˈsmæ.təɹ.ɪŋ/",
"tags": [
"UK"
]
},
{
"ipa": "/ˈsmæɾɚɪŋ/",
"tags": [
"US"
]
},
{
"audio": "en-us-smattering.ogg",
"mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/c/c3/En-us-smattering.ogg/En-us-smattering.ogg.mp3",
"ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c3/En-us-smattering.ogg",
"tags": [
"US"
],
"text": "Audio (US)"
}
],
"word": "smattering"
}
{
"etymology_number": 2,
"etymology_templates": [
{
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "enm",
"3": "smateringe"
},
"expansion": "Middle English smateringe",
"name": "inh"
},
{
"args": {
"1": "enm",
"2": "smattrynge"
},
"expansion": "smattrynge",
"name": "m"
},
{
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "smatter",
"3": "ing"
},
"expansion": "smatter + -ing",
"name": "suffix"
}
],
"etymology_text": "From Middle English smateringe, smattrynge, equivalent to smatter + -ing.",
"head_templates": [
{
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "verb form"
},
"expansion": "smattering",
"name": "head"
}
],
"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "verb",
"senses": [
{
"categories": [
{
"_dis": "11 21 68",
"kind": "other",
"name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
"parents": [
"Entries with incorrect language header",
"Entry maintenance"
],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "20 19 61",
"kind": "other",
"name": "English terms suffixed with -ing",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
}
],
"form_of": [
{
"word": "smatter"
}
],
"glosses": [
"present participle and gerund of smatter"
],
"id": "en-smattering-en-verb-hJUuodLU",
"links": [
[
"smatter",
"smatter#English"
]
],
"tags": [
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"gerund",
"participle",
"present"
]
}
],
"sounds": [
{
"ipa": "/ˈsmæ.təɹ.ɪŋ/",
"tags": [
"UK"
]
},
{
"ipa": "/ˈsmæɾɚɪŋ/",
"tags": [
"US"
]
},
{
"audio": "en-us-smattering.ogg",
"mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/c/c3/En-us-smattering.ogg/En-us-smattering.ogg.mp3",
"ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c3/En-us-smattering.ogg",
"tags": [
"US"
],
"text": "Audio (US)"
}
],
"word": "smattering"
}
{
"categories": [
"English 3-syllable words",
"English countable nouns",
"English entries with incorrect language header",
"English lemmas",
"English non-lemma forms",
"English nouns",
"English terms derived from Middle English",
"English terms inherited from Middle English",
"English terms suffixed with -ing",
"English terms with IPA pronunciation",
"English terms with audio links",
"English uncountable nouns",
"English verb forms"
],
"etymology_number": 1,
"etymology_templates": [
{
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "smatter",
"3": "ing"
},
"expansion": "smatter + -ing",
"name": "suffix"
}
],
"etymology_text": "From smatter + -ing.",
"forms": [
{
"form": "smatterings",
"tags": [
"plural"
]
}
],
"head_templates": [
{
"args": {
"1": "~"
},
"expansion": "smattering (countable and uncountable, plural smatterings)",
"name": "en-noun"
}
],
"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "noun",
"senses": [
{
"categories": [
"English terms with quotations",
"Quotation templates to be cleaned"
],
"examples": [
{
"text": "She knows a smattering of Greek, but not enough to carry on a conversation."
},
{
"text": "1529, Thomas More, The Supplycacyon of Soulys [The Supplication of Souls], London: W. Rastell, Book 2,\n[…] he had a lytell smatterynge in the lawe: […]"
},
{
"ref": "1694, Mary Astell, A Serious Proposal to the Ladies, for the Advancement of their True and Greatest Interest, London: R. Wilkin, page 153",
"text": "If any object against a Learned Education, that it will make Women vain and assuming, and instead of correcting, encrease their Pride: I grant, that a smattering in Learning may; for it has this effect on the Men, none so Dogmatical, and so forward to shew their Parts as your little Pretenders to Science.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "1907, E.M. Forster, The Longest Journey, Part II, XX [Uniform ed., p. 201]",
"text": "It’s easy enough to be a beak when you’re young and athletic, and can offer the latest University smattering. The difficulty is to keep your place when you get old and stiff, and younger smatterers are pushing up behind you."
},
{
"ref": "1951, Sinclair Lewis, chapter 2, in World So Wide",
"text": "He had only a mail-order smattering of music, painting; he had never read Dante or Goethe nor anything of Shakespeare except the plays on which he had been spoon-fed at Amherst […]",
"type": "quotation"
}
],
"glosses": [
"A superficial or shallow knowledge of a subject."
],
"links": [
[
"superficial",
"superficial"
],
[
"shallow",
"shallow"
],
[
"knowledge",
"knowledge"
],
[
"subject",
"subject"
]
],
"tags": [
"countable",
"uncountable"
]
},
{
"categories": [
"English terms with quotations"
],
"examples": [
{
"text": "There’s only a smattering of people who oppose the first amendment."
},
{
"ref": "2004 April 12, Dana Goodyear, “Westville”, in The New Yorker",
"text": "More sophisticated dishes, like trout, with a heavy smattering of finely minced rosemary between the filets, are simple and au naturel: the trout comes with a lemon wedge, a bed of mixed greens, and the head.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "2011 October 24, Suzanne Goldenberg, “The mission to clean up Mount Everest”, in The Guardian",
"text": "By the standards of the 70s, when the main climbing routes were littered with discarded tents and food packets, Everest is a lot cleaner, with just a smattering of plastic bottles and sweet wrappers on the rocky plateau that is base camp.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "2016 November 1, Teddy Greenstein, “Jim Harbaugh rates Wrigley Field atmosphere 'A+++'”, in Chicago Tribune",
"text": "He was introduced to a smattering of boos from the crowd, a sign of the presence of fans from Notre Dame and other Big Ten schools.",
"type": "quotation"
}
],
"glosses": [
"A small number or amount of something."
],
"links": [
[
"number",
"number"
],
[
"amount",
"amount"
]
],
"tags": [
"countable",
"uncountable"
]
}
],
"sounds": [
{
"ipa": "/ˈsmæ.təɹ.ɪŋ/",
"tags": [
"UK"
]
},
{
"ipa": "/ˈsmæɾɚɪŋ/",
"tags": [
"US"
]
},
{
"audio": "en-us-smattering.ogg",
"mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/c/c3/En-us-smattering.ogg/En-us-smattering.ogg.mp3",
"ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c3/En-us-smattering.ogg",
"tags": [
"US"
],
"text": "Audio (US)"
}
],
"synonyms": [
{
"sense": "small amount",
"word": "modicum"
}
],
"translations": [
{
"code": "bg",
"lang": "Bulgarian",
"roman": "povǎrhnostni znanija",
"sense": "superficial knowledge",
"word": "повърхностни знания"
},
{
"code": "ca",
"lang": "Catalan",
"sense": "superficial knowledge",
"tags": [
"feminine",
"plural"
],
"word": "nocions"
},
{
"code": "cmn",
"lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
"roman": "pímáo",
"sense": "superficial knowledge",
"word": "皮毛"
},
{
"code": "nl",
"lang": "Dutch",
"sense": "superficial knowledge",
"tags": [
"neuter"
],
"word": "greintje"
},
{
"code": "fr",
"lang": "French",
"sense": "superficial knowledge",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "rudiment"
},
{
"code": "de",
"lang": "German",
"sense": "superficial knowledge",
"tags": [
"neuter"
],
"word": "Halbwissen"
},
{
"code": "de",
"lang": "German",
"sense": "superficial knowledge",
"tags": [
"feminine"
],
"word": "oberflächliche Kenntnis"
},
{
"code": "de",
"lang": "German",
"sense": "superficial knowledge",
"tags": [
"feminine"
],
"word": "bruchstückhafte Kenntnis"
},
{
"code": "de",
"lang": "German",
"sense": "superficial knowledge",
"tags": [
"feminine"
],
"word": "Vorkenntnis"
},
{
"code": "de",
"lang": "German",
"sense": "superficial knowledge",
"tags": [
"feminine"
],
"word": "rudimentäre Kenntnis"
},
{
"code": "ga",
"lang": "Irish",
"sense": "superficial knowledge",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "smeadar"
},
{
"code": "ga",
"lang": "Irish",
"sense": "superficial knowledge",
"tags": [
"feminine"
],
"word": "salacharaíl"
},
{
"code": "it",
"lang": "Italian",
"sense": "superficial knowledge",
"word": "infarinatura"
},
{
"code": "ja",
"lang": "Japanese",
"roman": "sukoshi",
"sense": "superficial knowledge",
"word": "少し"
},
{
"alt": "なまかじり",
"code": "ja",
"lang": "Japanese",
"roman": "namakajiri",
"sense": "superficial knowledge",
"word": "生噛じり"
},
{
"code": "la",
"lang": "Latin",
"sense": "superficial knowledge",
"tags": [
"feminine"
],
"word": "scientiola"
},
{
"code": "pt",
"lang": "Portuguese",
"sense": "superficial knowledge",
"tags": [
"informal",
"masculine",
"plural"
],
"word": "laivos"
},
{
"code": "ru",
"lang": "Russian",
"roman": "povérxnostnoje znánije",
"sense": "superficial knowledge",
"tags": [
"neuter"
],
"word": "пове́рхностное зна́ние"
},
{
"code": "ru",
"lang": "Russian",
"roman": "koje-štó",
"sense": "superficial knowledge",
"word": "кое-что́"
},
{
"code": "es",
"lang": "Spanish",
"sense": "superficial knowledge",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "chapurreo"
},
{
"code": "es",
"lang": "Spanish",
"sense": "superficial knowledge",
"tags": [
"feminine",
"plural"
],
"word": "nociones"
},
{
"code": "es",
"lang": "Spanish",
"sense": "superficial knowledge",
"tags": [
"masculine",
"plural"
],
"word": "rudimentos"
},
{
"code": "uk",
"lang": "Ukrainian",
"roman": "poverxove znannja",
"sense": "superficial knowledge",
"tags": [
"neuter"
],
"word": "поверхове знання"
},
{
"code": "bg",
"lang": "Bulgarian",
"roman": "malko količestvo",
"sense": "small number",
"word": "малко количество"
},
{
"code": "nl",
"lang": "Dutch",
"sense": "small number",
"tags": [
"neuter"
],
"word": "handvol"
},
{
"code": "de",
"lang": "German",
"sense": "small number",
"tags": [
"feminine"
],
"word": "Handvoll"
},
{
"code": "de",
"lang": "German",
"sense": "small number",
"tags": [
"feminine"
],
"word": "kleine Menge"
},
{
"code": "de",
"lang": "German",
"sense": "small number",
"tags": [
"feminine"
],
"word": "geringe Anzahl"
},
{
"code": "ja",
"lang": "Japanese",
"roman": "shōsū",
"sense": "small number",
"tags": [
"numeral"
],
"word": "少数"
},
{
"code": "ja",
"english": "amount",
"lang": "Japanese",
"roman": "shōryō",
"sense": "small number",
"word": "少量"
}
],
"word": "smattering"
}
{
"categories": [
"English 3-syllable words",
"English entries with incorrect language header",
"English non-lemma forms",
"English terms derived from Middle English",
"English terms inherited from Middle English",
"English terms suffixed with -ing",
"English terms with IPA pronunciation",
"English terms with audio links",
"English verb forms"
],
"etymology_number": 2,
"etymology_templates": [
{
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "enm",
"3": "smateringe"
},
"expansion": "Middle English smateringe",
"name": "inh"
},
{
"args": {
"1": "enm",
"2": "smattrynge"
},
"expansion": "smattrynge",
"name": "m"
},
{
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "smatter",
"3": "ing"
},
"expansion": "smatter + -ing",
"name": "suffix"
}
],
"etymology_text": "From Middle English smateringe, smattrynge, equivalent to smatter + -ing.",
"head_templates": [
{
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "verb form"
},
"expansion": "smattering",
"name": "head"
}
],
"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "verb",
"senses": [
{
"form_of": [
{
"word": "smatter"
}
],
"glosses": [
"present participle and gerund of smatter"
],
"links": [
[
"smatter",
"smatter#English"
]
],
"tags": [
"form-of",
"gerund",
"participle",
"present"
]
}
],
"sounds": [
{
"ipa": "/ˈsmæ.təɹ.ɪŋ/",
"tags": [
"UK"
]
},
{
"ipa": "/ˈsmæɾɚɪŋ/",
"tags": [
"US"
]
},
{
"audio": "en-us-smattering.ogg",
"mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/c/c3/En-us-smattering.ogg/En-us-smattering.ogg.mp3",
"ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c3/En-us-smattering.ogg",
"tags": [
"US"
],
"text": "Audio (US)"
}
],
"word": "smattering"
}
This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-05-09 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-05-02 using wiktextract (4d5d0bb and edd475d). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.
If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.