paltry
Americanadjective
-
ridiculously or insultingly small.
a paltry sum.
- Synonyms:
- insignificant, slight, inconsiderable, minor
-
utterly worthless.
-
mean or contemptible.
a paltry coward.
adjective
-
insignificant; meagre
-
worthless or petty
Synonym Usage
See petty.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of paltry
First recorded in 1560–70; from Low German paltrig “ragged,” equivalent to *palter “rag” ( dialectal German Palter ) + -ig -y 1
Explanation
A paltry amount is so small it's not even worth thinking about. In the novel Oliver Twist, when Oliver is given a paltry amount of gruel — not nearly enough — he asks, "Please, sir, can I have some more?" Paltry is a laughably small amount — the waiter might chuck a paltry tip in the garbage. If you have only 50 cents in your bank account, it's such a paltry amount, you may as well be broke. It can also mean "not worth considering" or "not important." If you keep breaking your promises, your friends will get sick of your paltry excuses.
Vocabulary lists containing paltry
"The Black Cat" by Edgar Allan Poe
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The Odyssey
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Paltry Parlance: Synonyms for "Few"
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
That database was paltry compared with those assembled by AI developers today, but even then computers had become repositories of the esoteric facts one found in reference works and textbooks.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 3, 2026
The lack of hiring was especially stark in 2025, when the U.S. private sector produced a paltry 296,000 new jobs over the course of an entire year.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 29, 2026
But those features can’t make up for the Duo’s paltry zoom—just 2X, compared with 8X zoom in the 18 Pro—and the lower-resolution selfie camera.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 21, 2026
The dividend yield for the S&P 500 is paltry, at just over 1%.
From Barron's ● Oct. 15, 2026
Even so, the light was weak and paltry in the cold air.
From "Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy" by Gary D. Schmidt
So far, milder summer temperatures have spared him from the prospect of even paltrier yields.
From Washington Times ● Aug. 2, 2014
The design is the same in both, the proportions also; but the one is a chimney, the other a paltry model of a paltrier edifice.
From The Poetry of Architecture Or, the Architecture of the Nations of Europe Considered in its Association with Natural Scenery and National Character by John Ruskin
If one of the meanest of human conditions is conscious heroism, paltrier yet is heroism before the fact, incapable of self realization!
From The Marquis of Lossie by George MacDonald
He must maintain appearances in keeping with his associations—or drop downscale to meaner opportunities and paltrier prizes.
From The Law of Hemlock Mountain by Hugh Lundsford
Ah! what a contrast there is between the languid way in which Christian men pursue what the Bible designates their 'calling' and that in which men with far paltrier aims pursue theirs!
From Expositions of Holy Scripture Second Corinthians, Galatians, and Philippians Chapters I to End. Colossians, Thessalonians, and First Timothy. by Alexander Maclaren
This not only explains why Jupiter only has the paltriest of rings at present; it suggests that it likely never had large rings.
From Salon ● Jul. 22, 2022
Meanwhile, the true laborers of the book industry — those who hustle and work the angles, who take the greatest risks and reap the paltriest rewards — will barely get any bookseller facetime at all.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 4, 2020
The spring snowpack is the paltriest ever measured — by April it contained just 5% of a normal year’s water — and by the end of August the major reservoirs held 59% of their historical average.
From Nature ● Sep. 29, 2015
If this man is not the paltriest fraud that lives, I owe him an apology— QUESTION.
From Life on the Mississippi, Part 10. by Mark Twain
I won't hear you, because my risk is of the paltriest kind.
From After Dark by Wilkie Collins
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
