paltry
[pawl-tree]
- ridiculously or insultingly small: a paltry sum.
- utterly worthless.
- mean or contemptible: a paltry coward.
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Origin of paltry
Synonyms
See more synonyms for paltry on Thesaurus.com1. minor, inconsiderable, slight, insignificant. See petty.
Antonyms
1. important, major.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for paltriness
Historical Examples
It is sad that Shakespeare should be credited with the paltriness of lesser men.
William ShakespeareJohn Masefield
And Anna had been hurt, had been made miserable, by the paltriness of this fib.
The BenefactressElizabeth Beauchamp
How do I know that he will not despise my meanness and paltriness?
Town and Country SermonsCharles Kingsley
The very shabbiness and paltriness of the fib made Anna's heart yearn over the poor lady.
The BenefactressElizabeth Beauchamp
But his Prussian Majesty would not kindle the world for such a paltriness; and so left it hanging in a vexatious condition.
History of Friedrich II. of Prussia, Vol. X. (of XXI.)Thomas Carlyle
paltry
- insignificant; meagre
- worthless or petty
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Word Origin
C16: from Low Germanic palter, paltrig ragged
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for paltriness
paltry
adj.
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."
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper