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 paltry
Contemporary Examples
In all these elections, it was the suburbs—not paltry gains in the cities—that made the difference.
Also shown are the (paltry) sums spent by each organization on candidates and campaigns.
Salem the prep school kid felt so slighted by a paltry $3 million bonus in 2011 that he left the firm.
In his first season as owner of the San Diego Clippers, the team drew a paltry 4,344 fans a game.
Yes, women make up 45% of the Swedish parliament compared to a paltry 18% in the U.S Congress.
Historical Examples
Duncan dismissed this paltry consideration with a princely gesture.
The Fortune HunterLouis Joseph Vance
What's that paltry hundred or two, compared with the millions I shall make?
The ChanningsMrs. Henry Wood
Lugging a fellow up for a pitiful, paltry sum of twenty pounds!
The ChanningsMrs. Henry Wood
The poor thing's vengeance was theatrical and paltry, but what of the man, wherever he was?
The ChristianHall Caine
It was a paltry consolation, perhaps, but it was the best that then occurred to me.
The Shame of MotleyRaphael Sabatini
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 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