petty
[pet-ee]
- of little or no importance or consequence: petty grievances.
- of lesser or secondary importance, merit, etc.; minor: petty considerations.
- having or showing narrow ideas, interests, etc.: petty minds.
- mean or ungenerous in small or trifling things: a petty person.
- showing or caused by meanness of spirit: a petty revenge.
- of secondary rank, especially in relation to others of the same class or kind: petty states; a petty tyrant.
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Origin of petty
1325–75; Middle English peti(t) small, minor < Old French petit < Gallo-Romance *pittīttus, of expressive orig.
Synonyms
See more synonyms for on Thesaurus.com1. nugatory, negligible, inconsiderable, slight. Petty, paltry, trifling, trivial apply to something that is so insignificant as to be almost unworthy of notice. Petty implies contemptible insignificance and littleness, inferiority and small worth: petty quarrels. Paltry is applied to something that is beneath one's notice, even despicable: a paltry amount. Something that is trifling is so unimportant and inconsiderable as to be practically negligible: a trifling error. Something that is trivial is slight, insignificant, and even in incongruous contrast to something that is significant or important: a trivial remark; a trivial task. 3. small. 4. stingy, miserly.
Antonyms
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for pettiness
Contemporary Examples
Rather, he dishes up a seemingly endless stream of examples of pettiness, irritation, hypocrisy and awkwardness.
The pettiness could be no issue—photograph all of your children, rainbows, sunsets, and kittens.
It represents instead a sorry reflection of the pettiness of current political debate in Washington.
Obama Will Lose Recess Appointment Case, but Will Other Presidents Lose Their Power?Andrew Cohen
January 14, 2014
And it makes the pettiness and obstinacy on display in the U.S. over these negotiations all the more unseemly.
It remains the must-have accessory, the absence of it destined to whip up a firestorm of pettiness.
Historical Examples
Nothing but our own pinchbeck ideas could ascribe to Him this pettiness.
The Conquest of FearBasil King
Round me there is naught but weakness, hypocrisy, pettiness.
Secret Memoirs: The Story of Louise, Crown PrincessHenry W. Fischer
I wish to be thought exclusive, yet I condemn the pettiness of my ambition.
Robert OrangeJohn Oliver Hobbes
And James was horrified at the pettiness and the prejudice which he found in his home.
The HeroWilliam Somerset Maugham
Then, indeed, was no restraint or pettiness; then men were hard and firm and strong.
The HeroWilliam Somerset Maugham
petty
- trivial; trifling; inessentialpetty details
- of a narrow-minded, mean, or small-natured disposition or characterpetty spite
- minor or subordinate in rankpetty officialdom
- law of lesser importance
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Word Origin
C14: from Old French petit
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for pettiness
petty
adj.
late 14c., "small," from phonemic spelling of Old French petit "small" (see petit). In English, not originally disparaging (cf. petty cash, 1834; petty officer, 1570s). Meaning "of small importance" is recorded from 1520s; that of "small-minded" is from 1580s. Related: Pettily; pettiness. An old name for "Northern Lights" was petty dancers.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper