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smattering love

smattering

Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Superficial or piecemeal knowledge.
  • noun A small, scattered amount or number.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A slight or superficial knowledge: as, to have a smattering of Latin or Greek.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun A slight, superficial knowledge of something; sciolism.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A superficial or shallow knowledge of a subject.
  • noun A small number or amount of something.
  • verb Present participle of smatter.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a small number or amount
  • noun a slight or superficial understanding of a subject

Etymologies

Sorry, no etymologies found.

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Examples

  • "A smattering," is how Barry described the warm reception.

    USATODAY.com - Spurs' Barry finds his range in the nick of time 2005

  • Gayatri proved to be an able companion through the years -- even picking up Tamil (Prahalad could speak a smattering of Gujarati).

    Inclusive Visionary 2010

  • As an international businessman, I speak a smattering of languages, including Arabic.

    CNN Transcript Jan 6, 2006 2006

  • I used to be semi-fluent in Japanese and I could speak a smattering of Mandarin enough to order in a restaurant and get on and off the bus in the right spots.

    Don't Be Silenced vuboq 2006

  • Indians -- who could speak a smattering of English -- that he might be bound and remain, or accompany them to see the Big Knife tortured.

    Ella Barnwell A Historical Romance of Border Life Emerson Bennett

  • The majority of them, however, were content with what I have just called a smattering of education.

    Present Conditions In China 1944

  • Like many Arabs, he can speak a smattering, and a very fair one, of three or four languages, but he can't write a line in any one of them.

    There was a King in Egypt Norma Lorimer 1906

  • But the absence of the smattering is a much more dangerous and fatal thing if the man wishes to do business with the Argentine and the Transvaal, or to enter into practical relations of any sort with anybody outside his own parish.

    Post-Prandial Philosophy Grant Allen 1873

  • Thanks to my Nyonya maternal grandmother, I speak a smattering of Malay.

    TODAYonline 2010

  • They have learnt from long experience that the Brits are not always natural linguists, and so to speak a smattering of our language is a shrewd move on their part.

    Telegraph.co.uk: news business sport the Daily Telegraph newspaper Sunday Telegraph 2009

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