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View synonyms for pettifogging

pettifogging

[ pet-ee-fog-ing, -faw-ging ]

adjective

  1. insignificant; petty:

    pettifogging details.

  2. dishonest or unethical in insignificant matters; meanly petty.


pettifogging

/ ˈpɛtɪˌfɒɡɪŋ /

adjective

  1. petty

    pettifogging details

  2. mean; quibbling

    pettifogging lawyers

“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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Word History and Origins

Origin of pettifogging1

First recorded in 1570–80; pettifog, -ing 2
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Example Sentences

Experts were doubtful from the start of his pettifogging that he had reasonable grounds to bail out.

The Economist described his viewpoint succinctly: “He paints stewards of fair play — regulators and boards — as pettifogging enemies of progress,” wrote its pseudonymous business columnist “Schumpeter.”

The virtue of this concept is that it divorces essential protections from pettifogging debates over the definition of “employee.”

Last month, President Biden’s Education Department released 13 pages of pettifogging rules patently written to discourage and impede charter schools from accessing a $440 million federal program of support for charters.

Mr. Johnson’s allies accuse the European Union of inflexibility in applying rules, a pettifogging lack of sensitivity to feelings in parts of Northern Ireland and vengeful hostility toward Britain for exiting the bloc.

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