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
Daniel Immerwahr, New Yorker, 16 June 2025
For organizations, silent offboarding is tantamount to a loss of manpower.
—Bhushan Parikh, Forbes.com, 16 June 2025
Transparency campaigners said Channel 4’s confidentiality and non-disparagement clauses are tantamount to non-disclosure agreements.
—Jake Kanter, Deadline, 12 June 2025
Ukraine has repeatedly rejected the Russian conditions as tantamount to surrender.
—Vladimir Soldatkin, USA Today, 3 June 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 26 Jun. 2025.
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tantamount
adjective
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