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
Lance Eliot, Forbes.com, 5 July 2025
But Central Bank head Nabiullina is downplaying the risks because acknowledging them openly would be tantamount to self-criticism, given that her tight monetary policy has been the most important factor behind the recent slowdown.
—Brendan Cole, MSNBC Newsweek, 1 July 2025
Branden Jones, 34, said that keeping the current election schedule was tantamount to voter suppression.
—Tess Riski, Miami Herald, 27 June 2025
Plans to kill the tax credit by the end of the year would be tantamount to a death sentence for much of the residential solar industry and bring major layoffs, Ben Airth, policy director at Freedom Forever, told Semafor.
—Tim McDonnell, semafor.com, 26 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 18 Jul. 2025.
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tantamount
adjective
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