cant

²cant

noun

Definition of CANT

1

the pretending of having virtues, principles, or beliefs that one in fact does not have <many accused the evangelist of cant, since his lavish lifestyle seemed to bear little resemblance to what he was preaching>

Synonyms cant, dissembling, dissimulation, insincerity, piousness

Related Words deceit, deceitfulness, deception, deceptiveness, dishonesty, double-dealing, falsity, perfidy, two-facedness; affectation, affectedness, pretense (or pretence), pretension, pretentiousness, sanctimoniousness, self-righteousness, self-satisfaction; duplicity, fakery, falseness, fraudulentness, shamming; artificiality, glibness, oiliness, smoothness, unctuousness

Near Antonyms candor, directness, forthrightness, frankness, honesty, openheartedness, openness, probity, straightforwardness, truthfulness; artlessness, guilelessness, naturalness, unaffectedness

Antonyms genuineness, sincereness, sincerity

2

the special terms or expressions of a particular group or field <the colorful cant used by movie producers and publicity agents in Hollywood>

Synonyms argot, cant, dialect, jargon, jive, language, lingo, patois, patter, shop, shoptalk, slang, vocabulary

Related Words colloquial, colloquialism, idiom, localism, parlance, pidgin, provincialism, regionalism, speech, vernacular, vernacularism; slanguage; bureaucratese, computerese, cyberspeak, educationese, governmentese, journalese, technobabble