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canter

noun · verb

Simple meaning

A ride on a horse at such speed.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

kanter

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US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈkæntɚ

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

noun

  1. A ride on a horse at such speed.

  2. A smooth three-beat gait; between a trot and a gallop

  3. One who cants or whines; a beggar.

  4. One who makes hypocritical pretensions to goodness; one who uses canting language.

verb

  1. intransitive

    To move at such pace.

  2. transitive

    To cause to move at a canter; to ride (a horse) at a canter.

  3. Go at a canter, of horses

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
C2 · Proficient (estimated)
Frequency
Rare

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: A ride on a horse at such speed.

Used this way, canter is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.

Emotional tone
Neutral
Formality
Neutral
Intensity
Not strongly marked
How common
Moderately common
Connotation
Matter-of-fact
Usage feel
Neutral and straightforward

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

More ways to use canter

  • “He cantered the horse across the meadow.”verb
  • “The men cantered away.”verb

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

easy canterpreliminary canterslow canterlee canterdavid canterbrisk canterfast cantercollected canter

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Inflected forms

Grammatical variations of the same word.

  • cantnounBase word

    Stock phrases that have become nonsense through endless repetition.

Word family

Words built from the same root.

  • cantornounPerson or profession

    The musical director of a choir.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • cantering rhythmnounCompound term

    Cardiac rhythm characterized by the presence of an extra sound.

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.