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pettifog

[ pet-ee-fog, -fawg ]
/ ˈpɛt iˌfɒg, -ˌfɔg /
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See synonyms for: pettifog / pettifogging / pettifogger on Thesaurus.com
verb (used without object), pet·ti·fogged, pet·ti·fog·ging.
to bicker or quibble over trifles or unimportant matters.
to carry on a petty, shifty, or unethical law business.
to practice chicanery of any sort.
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Origin of pettifog

First recorded in 1605–15; back formation from pettifogger “ambulance chaser,” equivalent to petty “inferior, secondary” + fogger “shyster,” from Middle Low German voger or Middle Dutch voeger “an arranger, a fixer”; akin to Old English gefōg “a joining, a joint”; see also petty

OTHER WORDS FROM pettifog

pet·ti·fog·ger, nounpet·ti·fog·ger·y, noun

WORDS THAT MAY BE CONFUSED WITH pettifog

ambulance chaser, mouthpiece, pettifogger , shyster

Words nearby pettifog

petticoat, petticoat breeches, petticoated, petticoat insulator, petticoat narcissus, pettifog, pettifogger, pettifogging, pettiness, petting, petting zoo
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Words related to pettifog

altercate, argufy, avoid, bicker, carp, cavil, chicane, criticize, dispute, equivocate, evade, fence, flip-flop, hassle, niggle, nitpick, pretend, prevaricate, shift, spar

How to use pettifog in a sentence

  • The popular understanding of the word criticize is to find fault, to pettifog.

    Plum Pudding|Christopher Morley

British Dictionary definitions for pettifog

pettifog
/ (ˈpɛtɪˌfɒɡ) /
verb -fogs, -fogging or -fogged
(intr) to be a pettifogger
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
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