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pettifog
[ pet-ee-fog, -fawg ]
/ ˈpɛt iˌfɒg, -ˌfɔg /
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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, nounWORDS THAT MAY BE CONFUSED WITH pettifog
ambulance chaser, mouthpiece, pettifogger , shysterWords nearby pettifog
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2022
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
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