Link Centre Dictionary

petty

UK/ˈpɛt.i/ US/ˈpɛti/ common informal

adjective

1.

inferior in rank or status

  • “the junior faculty”
  • “a lowly corporal”
  • “petty officialdom”
  • “a subordinate functionary”
2.

(informal) small and of little importance

  • “a fiddling sum of money”
  • “a footling gesture”
  • “our worries are lilliputian compared with those of countries that are at war”
  • “a little (or small) matter”
  • “a dispute over niggling details”
  • “limited to petty enterprises”
  • “piffling efforts”
  • “giving a police officer a free meal may be against the law, but it seems to be a picayune infraction”
3.

contemptibly narrow in outlook

  • “petty little comments”
  • “disgusted with their small-minded pettiness”
Synonyms

Origin

The adjective is derived from Middle English peti, pety (“little, small; minor”) [and other forms], from Anglo-Norman petit, Middle French petit, and Old French peti, petit, pitet (“young; little, small; inferior; insignificant”) (modern French petit), ultimately of imitative origin. It is no longer thought that the word is derived from Celtic. Doublet of petit and petite. The noun is derived from the adjective.

Phrases

  • petty apartheid
  • petty average
  • petty bag
  • petty bourgeoisie
  • petty cash
  • petty crime
  • petty criminal

Related words

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.