puny
[pyoo-nee]
- of less than normal size and strength; weak.
- unimportant; insignificant; petty or minor: a puny excuse.
- Obsolete. puisne.
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Origin of puny
First recorded in 1540–50; spelling variant of puisne
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for puny
Contemporary Examples
In the end, Shumlin led by a puny 2,434 votes, less than the 50 percent margin needed for victory under Vermont law.
Complete and utter accident of fate, the puny matter of his voter enrollment.
But his standing in opinion polls is puny, and he has been targeted by Sarah Palin.
Mighty NATO rains down bombs and bullets on Gaddafi's puny forces, but can't score a knockout.
Historical Examples
I am ashamed to kill such a puny little dwarf as you seem to be.
Tanglewood TalesNathaniel Hawthorne
Pardon me for inserting these puny details in what I have to say.
The Old GameSamuel G. Blythe
Even we puny creatures can divine something of their birth and death.
Mountain MeditationsL. Lind-af-Hageby
Beauchene asked her as he looked at the pale, puny child on her arm.
FruitfulnessEmile Zola
What could man's law—his proud but puny morality—do to injure her?
The Woman Thou Gavest MeHall Caine
puny
- having a small physique or weakly constitution
- paltry; insignificant
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Word Origin
C16: from Old French puisne puisne
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 puny
adj.
1570s, "inferior in rank" (1540s as a noun, "junior pupil, freshman"), from Middle French puisné (Modern French puîné), from Old French puisne "born later, younger, youngest" (12c., contrasted with aisné "first-born"), from puis nez, from puis "afterward" (from Vulgar Latin *postius, from Latin postea "after this, hereafter," from post "after," see post-, + ea "there") + Old French né "born," from Latin natus, past participle of nasci "be born" (Old Latin gnasci; see genus). Sense of "small, weak, insignificant" first recorded 1590s. Cf. puisne. Related: Puniness.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper