Dictionary.com
definitions

paltry

[pawl-tree]
||
SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR paltry ON THESAURUS.COM

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 …
READ MORE

RELATED WORDS

insignificance, irrelevance, triviality

Origin of paltry

1560–70; < Low German paltrig ragged, equivalent to *palter rag (dialectal German Palter) + -ig -y1
Related formspal·tri·ly, adverbpal·tri·ness, nounun·pal·try, adjective
Can be confusedpaltry poultry

Synonyms for paltry

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR paltry ON THESAURUS.COM
1. minor, inconsiderable, slight, insignificant. See petty.

Antonyms for paltry

1. important, major.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for paltriness

Historical Examples of paltriness

  • It is sad that Shakespeare should be credited with the paltriness of lesser men.

    William Shakespeare

    John Masefield

  • And Anna had been hurt, had been made miserable, by the paltriness of this fib.

    The Benefactress

    Elizabeth Beauchamp

  • How do I know that he will not despise my meanness and paltriness?

    Town and Country Sermons

    Charles Kingsley

  • The very shabbiness and paltriness of the fib made Anna's heart yearn over the poor lady.

    The Benefactress

    Elizabeth Beauchamp

  • But his Prussian Majesty would not kindle the world for such a paltriness; and so left it hanging in a vexatious condition.

British Dictionary definitions for paltriness

paltry

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

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."

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper