piddling

[ pid-ling ]

adjective

1. amounting to very little; trifling; negligible:

   a piddling sum of money.

   Synonyms: picayune, paltry, insignificant, trivial

piddling

/ ˈpɪdlɪŋ /

adjective

1. informal.
   petty; trifling; trivial

Derived Forms

• ˈpiddlingly, adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of piddling¹

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

Example Sentences

The Tigers threw off two decades of middling-to-piddling seasons and made folk heroes out of Pudge Rodríguez and Magglio Ordóñez, with right-handed phenom Justin Verlander representing the future.

From FiveThirtyEight

Millions of other Americans will lament they live in cities with strapped budgets that throw piddling BBQs and hand out sparklers.

From The Daily Beast

These are the types of scenarios that would make the current catastrophe in Sendai look piddling by comparison.

From The Daily Beast

Still, I have never forgotten that in my youth, I thought the difference between life and death was piddling.

From The Daily Beast

We were kind of piddling around, and I kind of walked off ahead of him.

From Project Gutenberg

There are lots of loafers and piddling projects,--but the government's also doing some big jobs, some real construction work.

From Project Gutenberg

Here I was prepared to remove the drug scourge forever, and at a piddling cost.

From Project Gutenberg

With this he left us piddling; then within a quarter of an hour came back, and told us the pope-hawk is now to be seen.

From Project Gutenberg

There were not merely a little piddling dish of salad, a bite of cake, and a dab of ice-cream.

From Project Gutenberg