pettifogging
Americanadjective
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insignificant; petty.
pettifogging details.
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dishonest or unethical in insignificant matters; meanly petty.
adjective
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petty
pettifogging details
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mean; quibbling
pettifogging lawyers
Etymology
Origin of pettifogging
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The virtue of this concept is that it divorces essential protections from pettifogging debates over the definition of “employee.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 27, 2022
But the vast majority of our elected representatives overruled the pettifogging legalisms of Kennedy and the others.
From Washington Times ● Jan. 13, 2021
On the first day of the Trump impeachment trial, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court John Roberts uttered the word "pettifogging" to illustrate a point.
From BBC ● Jan. 22, 2020
The result is that workers, job-seekers and public services of every kind are subject to a pettifogging, stifling regime of assessment and monitoring, designed to identify the winners and punish the losers.
From The Guardian ● Apr. 15, 2016
They will go on with their pettifogging and their pawnbroking, and that is enough reward for them.
From The Inhabitants of the Philippines by Frederic H. Sawyer
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
