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

Word History and Origins

Origin of pettifogging¹

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

Example Sentences

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

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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.”

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

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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.

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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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Related Words

• frivolous 
• lesser 
• minor 
• narrow-minded