small-minded

[smawl-mahyn-did]

adjective

1. selfish, petty, or narrow-minded.

small-minded

adjective

1. narrow-minded; petty; intolerant; mean

Other Word Forms

• small-mindedly adverb
• small-mindedness noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of small-minded¹

First recorded in 1840–50

Example Sentences

I counted on her small-minded interference in the day-to-day running of the school to keep attention diverted elsewhere, while I searched for the information I needed.”

Read more on Literature

Now, as civil rights are being beaten back to … backwardness by small-minded politicians, there’s a timely element to this perfectly decent, good-hearted, unsurprisingly sentimental miniseries.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Never has a president been so vindictive and so small-minded.

Read more on Salon

“I’m sure there are small-minded people in Manhattan, but our show just wasn’t focused on that part,” he says.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

But it’s not just the small — and small-minded, and small-hearted — wealthy libertarian or right-wing elite.

Read more on Salon