pettifog

[pet-ee-fog, -fawg]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR pettifog 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.

Origin of pettifog

1605–15; back formation from pettifogger, equivalent to petty + fogger < Middle Low German voger or Middle Dutch voeger one who arranges things; akin to Old English gefōg a joining

Related formspet·ti·fog·ger, nounpet·ti·fog·ger·y, noun

Can be confusedambulance chaser mouthpiece pettifogger shyster

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

Related Words for pettifog

niggle, bicker, wrangle, hassle, prevaricate, fence, avoid, flip-flop, spar, dispute, cavil, squabble, nitpick, carp, waffle, criticize, shift, pretend, evade, equivocate

Examples from the Web for pettifog

Historical Examples of pettifog

The popular understanding of the word criticize is to find fault, to pettifog.
Plum Pudding
Christopher Morley

British Dictionary definitions for pettifog

pettifog

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