paltry

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Do you imagine that I, who despoiled the whole world, cannot at present give counsel which will serve for a paltry islet?

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Definitions (5)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (2)

  1. adjective Lacking in importance or worth. See Synonyms at trivial.
  2. adjective Wretched or contemptible.

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Examples (50)

  • His figures were paltry, his thoughts narrowed down, and his very sincerity made corrupt by spiritual pride. —  Memoirs of Margaret Fuller Ossoli, Vol. I
  • NEISSE IS BOMBARDED Neisse, which Friedrich calls a paltry hamlet (BICOQUE) is a pleasant strongly fortified Town, then of perhaps 6 or 8,000 inhabitants, now of double that number; stands on the right or south bank of the Neisse,--at this day, on both banks. —  History of Friedrich II of Prussia
  • Where the lights of the city seemed pale and paltry, the flames of the hundreds of campfires and bonfires in the Tent City blazed in the night. —  Prayers to Broken Stones
  • Our knowledge of how our own planet behaves is paltry, and space travel could play a role here. —  innovations-report
  • How paltry are all party questions in the presence of an issue so transcendent as this! —  The Continental Monthly, Vol. 6, No. 6, December 1864 Devoted To Literature And National Policy
 

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Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

petty ·  contemptible ·  trivial ·  pitiful ·  sordid ·  worthless ·  worldly ·  ridiculous ·  abominable ·  frivolous ·  meager ·  ignoble

Used in the same contextWord Family

paltry:   Paltry
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (1)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Probably from obsolete and dialectal paltry, trash, perhaps from Low German paltrig, ragged, from palte, rag.
 

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Der dicke Dachdecker deckte dir dein Dach, drum dank dem dicken Dachdecker, dass der dicke Dachdecker dir dein Dach deckte. · weitläufig · und wenn sie nicht gestorben sind, so leben sie noch heute · redescheu · selbstverständlich