pettifogger

/ (ˈpɛtɪˌfɒɡə) /

noun

a lawyer of inferior status who conducts unimportant cases, esp one who is unscrupulous or resorts to trickery
any person who quibbles or fusses over details

Origin of pettifogger

C16: from petty + fogger, of uncertain origin, perhaps from Fugger, name of a family (C15–16) of German financiers

Derived forms of pettifogger

pettifoggery, noun

Words Nearby 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

How to use pettifogger in a sentence

Now, which was the best pedigree, that of the son of the pastry-cook, or that of the son of the pettifogger?
The Romany Rye | George Borrow
Thinking it well beneath me to measure words with this knavish pettifogger, I looked beyond him and spoke to his master.
The Master of Appleby | Francis Lynde
A happy thought suggested itself—one worthy of the unscrupulous theological pettifogger that he is.
Abraham Lincoln: Was He A Christian? | John B. Remsburg
pettifogger, pet′i-fog-ėr, n. a lawyer who practises only in paltry cases.
Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 3 of 4: N-R) | Various
Anything can be proved by two false witnesses—thinks the pettifogger.
Plays--First Series | August Strindberg

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