pettifogging
insignificant; petty: pettifogging details.
dishonest or unethical in insignificant matters; meanly petty.
Origin of pettifogging
1Words Nearby pettifogging
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use pettifogging in a sentence
He is only a pettifogging country Squire, whose views on the Land Question are ob-solete in tot-to.
Mushroom Town | Oliver OnionsDare not say it is, or I will, upon the spot, divorce your pettifogging soul from your carrion carcass!
The Fortunes of Nigel | Sir Walter ScottBy conforming to the Laws of this Universe; instead of trying by pettifogging to evade and profitably contradict them.
History Of Friedrich II. of Prussia, Vol. III. (of XXI.) | Thomas CarlyleI think you're nothing but a pettifogging lawyer—that there ain't no partner, and I'm no better'n a fool to talk to you.
Max Fargus | Owen JohnsonThe pettifogging objections to some social plan had very little chance of survival owing to the dynamic power of the reformers.
A Preface to Politics | Walter Lippmann
British Dictionary definitions for pettifogging
/ (ˈpɛtɪˌfɒɡɪŋ) /
petty: pettifogging details
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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