Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Lacking in importance or worth. See Synonyms at trivial.
- adj. Wretched or contemptible.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Mean; worthless; despicable: as, a paltry trifle; often in a mitigated sense, of little value of consequence.
- Synonyms Despicable, Pitiful, etc. (see contemptible), insignificant, petty, miserable, wretched, trifling, trivial.
- n. A wretched, worthless trifle.
Wiktionary
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. Mean; vile; worthless; despicable; contemptible; pitiful; trifling.
WordNet 3.0
- adj. not worth considering
- adj. contemptibly small in amount
Etymologies
- From Middle Low German paltrig ("ragged, rubbishy, worthless"), from palter, palte ("cloth, rag, shred"), from Old Saxon *paltro, *palto (“cloth, rag”), from Proto-Germanic *paltrô, *paltô (“scrap, rag, patch”). Cognate with Eastern Frisian palterig ("ragged, torn"), German dialectal palterig ("paltry"). Compare also Low German palte ("rag"), West Frisian palt ("rag"), German dialectal Palter ("rag"), Danish pjalt ("rag, tatter"), Swedish palta ("rag"). See also palterly. (Wiktionary)
- Probably from obsolete and dialectal paltry, trash, perhaps from Low German paltrig, ragged, from palte, rag. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“Haughty, proud, and uncompromising, though neither destitute of honor nor generosity, he despised and hated what he termed the paltry associations of herdsmen and shepherds, united with a few towns which subsisted chiefly by commerce; and instead of courting the Helvetian”
“I listened to Ebenezer Ato Sam aka Baby Ansaba on myjoyonline. com on 2nd February 2010 and I must say that he is an archetypal example of what gutter Accra are incensed over what they describe as paltry salaries and poor working conditions.”
“Let us not fag in paltry works which serve our pot and bag alone.”
“As you know, of course, the U.S. being criticized for what some called a paltry and slow response to this humanitarian crisis.”
“Boston, which was once again paltry on the power play.”
“And then, you whine and fret for what you yourself call a paltry matter!”
“Small societies of excluded lepers live miserably in paltry huts.”
“The King County Council called their paltry recommendation a "political victory" for us.”
“Purnell claims he calculated that had the Brown squirt (I refuse to call his paltry measure a stimulus) been carried out in the 1990s there would have been 300,000 fewer on the dole.”
“Chief Justice Robert called the paltry current pay, quote, "a direct threat to judicial independence.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘paltry’.
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GRE Barrons Wordlist
A complete Barron's Wordlist for GRE preparation. Your online flashcard replacement.
abase, abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abject, abjure and 4087 more...
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hunting
crudely, unequivocal, obsolete, obscure, overtly, misdeed, shack, inherent, outcry, hefty, composed, poised and 319 more...
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Interesting words
A list of words that are odd or words that I have looked up.
concupiscence, brize, scree, scoria, forestaff, spanaemia, valetudinarianism, distasture, pyrethrum, laudanum, gentian, bicameral and 11250 more...
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GRE 2014
abase, abate, abdicate, aberrant, abeyance, abhor, abjure, abortive, abound, abrasive, abreast, abridge and 1577 more...
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Adjectives with 2 syllables that end ...
angry, bossy, busy, chilly, cheesy, creepy, dirty, early, funny, hairy, happy, healthy and 126 more...
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EU Buzz - single words (1+2+3)
1. Strictly EU terms with special European meaning used only in the EU
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2. Keywords central to the understanding of the EU (people working for the EU are usually able to give thematic...acceleration, action, additionality, administrator, agenda, agricultural, agri-environmental, agriflation, agri-food, applicant, approach, assent and 1325 more...
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Words beginning with P
peripatetic, pearlescent, perfunctory, palliate, permafrost, prosthetic, pliant, pluvious, percussion, procrastinate, progeria, prognathism and 49 more...
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Adjectives
anodyne, incessant, unbroken, malcontent, furtive, evocative, lithe, fugacious, aleatory, indelible, ephemeral, paltry
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Words from Moby Dick
frigate, presumptuous, genteel, succor, hearthstone, gentry, factitious, bilious, insurgent, portent, enervate, genuflect and 303 more...
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my GRE words
pedant, wizened, histrionic, logorrhea, frenetic, approbation, quibble, knell, acclivity, droog, prevarication, aplomb and 182 more...
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Misery
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Airborn
Words and phrases from Kenneth Oppel's book, Airborn.
running lights, starboard, bow, gondola, bullhorn, rudder man, gas cell, keel, catwalk, stern, cargo bay, machinist and 152 more...
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newGRE
mostly from magoosh
imbue, verge on, nonchalant, deliberate, timorous, futile, provisional, dissect, checked, tinged, alluring, visionary and 1046 more...
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ADW1
obdurate, obstinate, behest, injunction, enjoin, circumspect, ensconce, discursive, lugubrious, doleful, somber, ken and 2476 more...
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GRE 3500 P
paean, pall, palliate, pallid, palpable, palpitate, paltry, pan, panache, panegyric, pantomime, paraphernalia and 93 more...
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Vocab++
Words as I learn them.
fetid, mezzanine, hiatus, austerity, subliminal, resplendent, implacable, impugn, debase, exiguous, cirque, holster and 2538 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for paltry.
brtom Paltry funeral: coach and three carriages.
Joyce, Ulysses, 6 Dec 31, 2006