tantamount
adjective
Did you know?
Although tantamount (from the Anglo-French phrase tant amunter, meaning “to amount to as much”) was used three different ways in the early 17th century—as a noun, verb, and adjective—the adjective form has since proven paramount to English users: it’s still in use while the noun and verb are obsolete. This is not to say that the adjective hasn’t experienced change over the years. While it was once acceptable to use tantamount in a variety of different sentence structures, nowadays it is almost always followed by the word to. And to use it before a noun, as in “the two old friends exchanged tantamount greetings,” would now be considered, er, tantamount to riding a penny-farthing or boneshaker onto the expressway.
Examples of tantamount in a Sentence
Shane Croucher, MSNBC Newsweek, 26 Nov. 2025
In celebrity circles, that’s tantamount to a declaration.
—Lizzie Lanuza, StyleCaster, 24 Nov. 2025
Gathering at town halls or speaking about the pollution to reporters was tantamount to inviting the shutdown of your place of employment.
—Sean Patrick Cooper, Rolling Stone, 24 Nov. 2025
This post was tantamount to a review of your excursion.
—Judith Martin, Mercury News, 22 Nov. 2025
See All Example Sentences for tantamount
Cite this Entry
“Tantamount.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/tantamount. Accessed 7 Dec. 2025.
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tantamount
adjective
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