Smattering Meaning
/ˈsmæ.təɹ.ɪŋ/Definition, CEFR level C1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
nounA shallow or superficial knowledge of a subject.
nounA small amount or number of something.
Sentence Examples
He has a smattering of Greek.
I only speak a smattering of Japanese.
They're able to speak a smattering of Spanish.
CEFR Practice Quiz
After one lesson, he had only a ____ of French, just a few words.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
He has a ____ of French, enough to ask for directions but not to hold a long conversation.
Word Origin & History
Etymology tree English smatter English -ing English smattering From smatter + -ing.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"If any object against a Learned Education, that it will make Women vain and assuming, and instead of correcting, encrease their Pride: I grant, that a smattering in Learning may; for it has this effect on the Men, none so Dogmatical, and so forward to shew their Parts as your little Pretenders to Science."
— 1694, Mary Astell, A Serious Proposal to the Ladies, for the Advancement of their True and Greatest Interest, London: R. Wilkin, page 153:
"There were several of his Priests and Lawyers present, (as I conjectured by their habits) who were commanded to address themselves to me, and I spoke to them in as many Languages as I had the least smattering of, which were High and Low Dutch, Latin, French, Spanish, Italian, and Lingua Franca; but all to no purpose."
— 1726 October 28, [Jonathan Swift], “The Emperor of Lilliput, Attended by Several of the Nobility, Come to See the Author in His Confinement. […]”, in Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. […] [Gulliver’s Travels], volume I, London: […] Benj[amin] Motte, […], →OCLC, part I (A Voyage to Lilliput), page 30:
"It's easy enough to be a beak when you're young and athletic, and can offer the latest University smattering. The difficulty is to keep your place when you get old and stiff, and younger smatterers are pushing up behind you."
— 1907 April, E[dward] M[organ] Forster, The Longest Journey, Edinburgh; London: William Blackwood and Sons, →OCLC:
"Tarzan, who, by this time, with the assistance of Abdul, had picked up quite a smattering of Arab, questioned one of the younger men who had accompanied the sheik while the latter paid his respects to Captain Gerard."
— 1913 June–December, Edgar Rice Burroughs, “Numa ‘El Adrea’”, in The Return of Tarzan, New York, N.Y.: A[lbert] L[evi] Burt Company, […], published March 1915, →OCLC, page 120:
"He had only a mail-order smattering of music, painting; he had never read Dante or Goethe nor anything of Shakespeare except the plays on which he had been spoon-fed at Amherst […]"
— 1951, Sinclair Lewis, chapter 2, in World So Wide:
Explore More C1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
After one lesson, he had only a ____ of French, just a few words.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
He has a ____ of French, enough to ask for directions but not to hold a long conversation.