petty
adjective
of little or no importance or consequence.
petty
1 American
[pet-ee]
/ ˈpɛt i /
adjective
-
pettier,
comparative
-
pettiest
superlative
-
of little or no importance or consequence.
petty grievances.
- Synonyms:
- slight, inconsiderable, negligible, nugatory
- Antonyms:
- important
-
of lesser or secondary importance, merit, etc.; minor.
petty considerations.
-
having or showing narrow ideas, interests, etc..
petty minds.
- Synonyms:
- small
-
mean or ungenerous in small or trifling things.
a petty person.
- Antonyms:
- generous
-
showing or caused by meanness of spirit.
a petty revenge.
-
of secondary rank, especially in relation to others of the same class or kind.
petty states; a petty tyrant.
Petty
2
American
[pet-ee]
/ ˈpɛt i /
noun
-
Richard, born 1937, U.S. racing-car driver.
-
William, 2nd Earl of Shelburne, 1st Marquis of Lansdowne. William Petty Fitzmaurice Lansdowne.
petty
British
/ ˈpɛtɪ /
adjective
-
trivial; trifling; inessential
petty details
-
of a narrow-minded, mean, or small-natured disposition or character
petty spite
-
minor or subordinate in rank
petty officialdom
-
law of lesser importance
Synonym Usage
Petty, paltry, trifling, trivial apply to something that is so insignificant as to be almost unworthy of notice. Petty implies contemptible insignificance and littleness, inferiority and small worth: petty quarrels. Paltry is applied to something that is beneath one's notice, even despicable: a paltry amount. Something that is trifling is so unimportant and inconsiderable as to be practically negligible: a trifling error. Something that is trivial is slight, insignificant, and even in incongruous contrast to something that is significant or important: a trivial remark; a trivial task.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Adjectives
Etymology
Origin of petty
First recorded in 1325–75; Middle English peti(t) “small, minor,” from Old French petit, from unattested Gallo-Romance pittīttus, of expressive origin
Explanation
Petty used to mean just "petite" or "small," but now it's used for things that are trivial and shouldn’t matter much. If you host world leaders and spend more time picking napkins than memorizing names, you're focused on petty things. A few neutral meanings of petty are still in use today — such as "petty cash," which refers to a small amount of cash on hand — but most uses of petty since the 16th century are negative, as in "narrow-minded," "trivial," and "of little importance." A "petty argument" is a popular expression, because many people get all worked up over something that isn't very important — a petty concern — that seems much smaller after the heat of the moment.
Vocabulary lists containing petty
"Julius Caesar" by William Shakespeare, Act I
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I Am Malala
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Even More Negative Words to Describe a Person
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Or was his quest for power rooted in sheer petty selfishness?
From Slate ● Jul. 13, 2026
Hearing that all these years later, it’s hard not to conclude that the petty complainers won.
From Salon ● Jun. 26, 2026
"That's one of my favourite things," she says "I can write a song about being petty or jealous or super insecure, and I get it off my chest in a way that seems productive."
From BBC ● Jun. 10, 2026
His mother, Valborg, who had emigrated from St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands, worked as a domestic; his father, Walter, who had emigrated from St. Croix, was a petty officer in the U.S.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 26, 2026
“Isn't fair, and you’re correct. There was no fairness involved with this decision, only a petty sort of revenge. Even so, there will be no such displays in my school.”
From "October Sky" by Homer Hickam
“It’s very humbling to be down there and try to bring some of our fellow soldiers, sailors back home,” said Chief Petty Officer Jason Friars, a U.S.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 30, 2026
The immediate goal is to get the complex looking nearly finished from the outside in time for the Olympics, Petty said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 21, 2026
This Fourth of July, I will be thinking about the iconic photograph of Chief Petty Officer Graham Jackson watching President Franklin Roosevelt’s funeral procession, tears streaming down his face as he plays the accordion.
From Salon ● Jun. 30, 2026
As early as 1662, the physician and statistician William Petty asserted a cycle of “dearths and plenties” every seven years.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 5, 2026
Petty Officer Haldon Lac cringed and squinted up at him.
From "The Reader" by Traci Chee
It doesn’t get any pettier and mean-girlie than “Did she sandblast her face or something? It’s very waxy.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 23, 2025
Listen, I’m sure there will be a lot of sturm und drang about what the whistleblower disclosures mean for Elon Musk’s Twitter deal, but I want to focus on something dumber and pettier: Jack Dorsey.
From The Verge ● Aug. 23, 2022
But because Doncic is an NBA all-star, his true intent probably was pettier — an insinuation that the refs were on the Suns’ payroll.
From Washington Post ● May 10, 2022
It’s a juicy lineup of familiar characters who are greedier and pettier than those that usually populate historical epics.
From New York Times ● Oct. 13, 2021
Perhaps more happens—I mean in a pettier way—when the man has leisure and can see too much of his wife.
From The Avalanche by Atherton, Gertrude Franklin Horn
The show finds ways to expose the worst in its characters, their pettiest, most vengeful, greediest parts.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 3, 2026
It’s elementary: Characters can do outlandish things, commit outrageous crimes, be inspired by the pettiest of motives.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 30, 2025
Furst insisted no topic is off the table, from the pettiest accusation to the most serious charge.
From Seattle Times ● Dec. 21, 2023
This is just the pettiest host behavior in my recent memory — at least.
From Washington Post ● Dec. 12, 2018
Daily his companions marvelled anew at the duration of what was, to them, the pettiest of "affairs."
From The Genius by Potter, Margaret Horton
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
