paltry
Americanadjective
-
ridiculously or insultingly small.
a paltry sum.
- Synonyms:
- insignificant, slight, inconsiderable, minor
-
utterly worthless.
-
mean or contemptible.
a paltry coward.
adjective
-
insignificant; meagre
-
worthless or petty
Synonym Usage
See petty.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of paltry
First recorded in 1560–70; from Low German paltrig “ragged,” equivalent to *palter “rag” ( dialectal German Palter ) + -ig -y 1
Explanation
A paltry amount is so small it's not even worth thinking about. In the novel Oliver Twist, when Oliver is given a paltry amount of gruel — not nearly enough — he asks, "Please, sir, can I have some more?" Paltry is a laughably small amount — the waiter might chuck a paltry tip in the garbage. If you have only 50 cents in your bank account, it's such a paltry amount, you may as well be broke. It can also mean "not worth considering" or "not important." If you keep breaking your promises, your friends will get sick of your paltry excuses.
Vocabulary lists containing paltry
"The Black Cat" by Edgar Allan Poe
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The Odyssey
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Paltry Parlance: Synonyms for "Few"
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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:
That database was paltry compared with those assembled by AI developers today, but even then computers had become repositories of the esoteric facts one found in reference works and textbooks.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 3, 2026
The dividend yield for the S&P 500 is paltry, at just over 1%.
From Barron's ● Oct. 15, 2026
The returns on stocks had simply been too great during his investing journey to accept a paltry 3% yield.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 8, 2026
For the paltry sum of $44 million, thereabouts, we acquired the oldest and most prestigious talent agency in town.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 15, 2026
Shortly after Christmas, he managed to cadge on temporary loan from a laboratory colleague a magnet twice as powerful as his paltry four-inch model.
From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik
So far, milder summer temperatures have spared him from the prospect of even paltrier yields.
From Washington Times ● Aug. 2, 2014
If one of the meanest of human conditions is conscious heroism, paltrier yet is heroism before the fact, incapable of self realization!
From The Marquis of Lossie by George MacDonald
It is a triumph over cowardice, baseness, the love of ease and safety, all the paltrier aspects of our nature; but a triumph over death it is not.
From God and Mr. Wells A Critical Examination of 'God the Invisible King' by William Archer
Ah! what a contrast there is between the languid way in which Christian men pursue what the Bible designates their 'calling' and that in which men with far paltrier aims pursue theirs!
From Expositions of Holy Scripture Second Corinthians, Galatians, and Philippians Chapters I to End. Colossians, Thessalonians, and First Timothy. by Alexander Maclaren
He must maintain appearances in keeping with his associations—or drop downscale to meaner opportunities and paltrier prizes.
From The Law of Hemlock Mountain by Hugh Lundsford
This not only explains why Jupiter only has the paltriest of rings at present; it suggests that it likely never had large rings.
From Salon ● Jul. 22, 2022
Meanwhile, the true laborers of the book industry — those who hustle and work the angles, who take the greatest risks and reap the paltriest rewards — will barely get any bookseller facetime at all.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 4, 2020
The spring snowpack is the paltriest ever measured — by April it contained just 5% of a normal year’s water — and by the end of August the major reservoirs held 59% of their historical average.
From Nature ● Sep. 29, 2015
There were spies and informers about who would not have left the Excise Commissioners uninformed of the paltriest charge they could have trumped up against Burns.
From Robert Burns Famous Scots Series by Gabriel Setoun
I would not willingly waste upon small arguments, when I see more and more clearly that our paltriest faults and dishonesties need one and the same enormous cure.
From Paul Faber, Surgeon by George MacDonald
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
