paltry
[ pawl-tree ]
/ ˈpɔl tri /
adjective, pal·tri·er, pal·tri·est.
ridiculously or insultingly small: a paltry sum.
utterly worthless.
mean or contemptible: a paltry coward.
RELATED CONTENT
Foxy, Catty, Fishy: Are These Traits For Animals Or Humans?Catty It seems horribly unfair to adorable cats that catty is a human descriptor meaning “devious or spiteful” (and usually in reference to female behavior). What gives? The word cat has been around since the year 700. But then, in the Middle Ages, cat became one of the many offensive terms against women and was slang for “prostitute.” The association might have been made because …
RELATED WORDS
Nearby words
Origin of paltry
SYNONYMS FOR paltry
Related formspal·tri·ly, adverbpal·tri·ness, nounun·pal·try, adjective
Can be confusedpaltry poultry
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019
Examples from the Web for paltriness
British Dictionary definitions for paltriness
paltry
/ (ˈpɔːltrɪ) /
adjective -trier or -triest
insignificant; meagre
worthless or petty
Derived Formspaltrily, adverbpaltriness, noun
Word Origin for paltry
C16: from Low Germanic palter, paltrig ragged
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for paltriness
paltry
1560s, probably an adjectival use of noun paltry "worthless thing" (1550s), associated with dialectal palt, pelt "trash," cognate with Middle Low German and East Frisian palte "rag," Middle Dutch palt "broken or torn fragment." Cf. Low German paltrig "rubbishy," East Frisian palterig "ragged, torn."
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper