Smattering

Definitions

1. A superficial or shallow knowledge of a subject.
2. A small number or amount of something.

Equivalents

12 more languages

العربيةالمعرفة السطحية

Bosanskirudiment

Catalànocions

Ελληνικάαλεύρωμαημιμάθεια

Hrvatskirudiment

Italianoinfarinatura

日本語少し少数少量生噛じり+ 1 more

Latinascientiola

Nederlandsgreintjehandvol

Portuguêslaivos

Русскийко́е-что́пове́рхностное зна́ние

Српскиrudiment

Examples

“She knows a smattering of Greek, but not enough to carry⟳ on a conversation.”

“1529, Thomas More, The Supplycacyon of Soulys [The Supplication of Souls], London: W. Rastell, Book 2, […] he had a lytell smatterynge in the lawe: […]”

“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.”

“There were several of his Priests and Lawyers present⟳, (as I conjectured by their habits) who were commanded to address themselves to me, and I spoke to them in as many Languages as I had the least smattering of, which were High and Low Dutch, Latin, French, Spanish, Italian, and Lingua Franca; but all to no purpose.”

“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.”

“Tarzan, who, by this time, with the assistance of Abdul, had picked up quite a smattering of Arab, questioned one of the younger men who had accompanied the sheik while the latter paid his respects to Captain Gerard.”

“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 […]”

“There’s only a smattering of people who oppose⟳ the first amendment.”

“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.”

“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.”

“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.”

CEFR level