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.
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RELATED WORDS
measly, insignificant, meager, miserable, pitiful, trivial, puny, base, beggarly, cheap, common, contemptible, despicable, ineffectual, limited, low, mean, minor, narrow, petty
Nearby words
- palstave,
- palsy,
- palsy-walsy,
- palter,
- paltrow,
- paludal,
- paludamentum,
- paludism,
- paludrine,
- palustrine
Origin of paltry
SYNONYMS FOR paltry
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019
Examples from the Web for paltry
paltry
/ (ˈpɔːltrɪ) /
adjective -trier or -triest
insignificant; meagre
worthless or petty
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
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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