piddling

American  

[pid-ling] / ˈpɪd lɪŋ /

adjective

1. amounting to very little; trifling; negligible.

   a piddling sum of money.

   Synonyms:

   picayune, paltry, insignificant, trivial

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piddling British  

/ ˈpɪdlɪŋ /

adjective

1. informal petty; trifling; trivial

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Other Word Forms

• piddlingly adverb

Etymology

Origin of piddling

First recorded in 1550–60; piddle + -ing ²

Explanation

If your part time job pays badly, you might describe your income as piddling, or insignificant. Why does English have so many words for suggesting that something is contemptibly small? The adjective piddling is a favorite choice when sums of money are concerned; a more dignified, but no less contemptuous word, is paltry. Piddling comes from piddle, which has changed in meaning over the years — in the early 1600's it meant "pick at one's food," while by the late 1700's it meant "to urinate."

Example Sentences

It’s exciting as spectacle, but on the substance every element of the preceding sentence is piddling.

From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 16, 2025

There’s even a humbling sequence set in the real Carrara, where, against the quarry’s raw splendor, the mighty modern excavators look as piddling as Hot Wheels on the basement stairs.

From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 18, 2024

We loved her when she was open and raw, giving unflinchingly monologues on small stages she often ran onto, with piddling crowds she had to win over.

From Salon • May 27, 2023

The piddling, isolated incidents that maybe happened here?

From New York Times • Mar. 3, 2022

Identical twins—but not in piddling twos and threes as in the old vivip-arous days, when an egg would sometimes accidentally divide; actually by dozens, by scores at a time.

From "Brave New World" by Aldous Huxley