piddling
Americanadjective
adjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of piddling
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."
Vocabulary lists containing piddling
Boy: Tales of Childhood
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Unimportant
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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.
I don’t know about you, but I could not survive on a piddling $4 million per year.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 25, 2026
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
Yet on a comparative basis, they are piddling.
From New York Times ● May 3, 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
“Dragons don’t mess with your piddling free will. Pah! Listen to me, boy.”
From "Grendel" by John Gardner
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
