piddling

[pid-ling]

adjective

1. amounting to very little; trifling; negligible.

   a piddling sum of money.

   Synonyms: picayune, paltry, insignificant, trivial

piddling

/ ˈpɪdlɪŋ /

adjective

1. informal,  petty; trifling; trivial

Other Word Forms

• piddlingly adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of piddling¹

First recorded in 1550–60; piddle + -ing ²

Example Sentences

There’s even a humbling sequence set in the real Carrara, where, against the quarry’s raw splendor, the mighty modern excavators look as piddling as Hot Wheels on the basement stairs.

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Yet on a comparative basis, they are piddling.

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Mencken points out that he’s not especially successful, that his business is “petty and piddling,” and to think of him as a leader is completely misguided.

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It also would have reduced Hiroshima and Nagasaki to a piddling afterthought; Nolan treats them instead as a profound absence, an indictment by silence.

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We loved her when she was open and raw, giving unflinchingly monologues on small stages she often ran onto, with piddling crowds she had to win over.

Read more on Salon