pettifog
[ pet-ee-fog, -fawg ]
/ ˈpɛt iˌfɒg, -ˌfɔg /
Save This Word!
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.
QUIZZES
QUIZ YOURSELF ON AFFECT VS. EFFECT!
In effect, this quiz will prove whether or not you have the skills to know the difference between “affect” and “effect.”
Question 1 of 7
The rainy weather could not ________ my elated spirits on my graduation day.
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. 2021
Example sentences from the Web for pettifog
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