Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Of small importance; trivial: a petty grievance.
- adj. Marked by narrowness of mind, ideas, or views.
- adj. Marked by meanness or lack of generosity, especially in trifling matters.
- adj. Secondary in importance or rank; subordinate. See Synonyms at trivial.
- adj. Law Variant of petit.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Small; little; trifling; trivial; inconsiderable or insignificant; of little account: as, petty payments; a petty quarrel.
- Of minor importance or gravity; not heinous or serious: as, petty trespass; a petty crime.
- Inferior as regards rank, power, capacity, possessions, etc.; not of great importance, standing, or rank: as, a petty prince; a petty proprietor.
- n. A junior scholar in a grammar-school; a little child attending school.
Wiktionary
- adj. Little, small, secondary in rank or importance.
- adj. Insignificant, trifling, or inconsiderable.
- adj. Narrow-minded, small-minded.
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. Little; trifling; inconsiderable; also, inferior; subordinate.
WordNet 3.0
- adj. inferior in rank or status
- adj. (informal) small and of little importance
- n. larceny of property having a value less than some amount (the amount varies by locale)
- adj. contemptibly narrow in outlook
Etymologies
- From Middle French petit, English since the late 14th century. The disparaging meaning develops during the 16th century. (Wiktionary)
- Middle English peti, from Old French, variant of petit; see petit. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“Which of us, in fact, has the force of character to be superior to petty vanity, to _petty fine feelings_, sympathy and self-reproach? ...”
“As Democratic presidential frontrunners Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton got personal in last night's debate, John Edwards said he tried to stay away from what he called petty bickering.”
“HENRY: The clarification came after Maliki lashed out at what he called petty politics from the American administration.”
“SHEINDLIN: Yes oh, yes, child is bitten by a dog, the child -- sometimes children get involved in -- what I call petty crime vandalism, and the neighbor will sue the parents to replace the property that the children destroyed.”
CNN Transcript - Larry King Live: Judge Judy Lays Down the Law - February 18, 2000
“Baqwa said every individual was capable of casting aside what he called petty differences and to help rid the country of lawlessness and violence.”
“Only a disgusting selfish inhuman being with total lack of compassion or sense of right and wrong would use the Haiti earthquake in petty political attacks against President Obama”
Think Progress » Beck: Obama is ‘dividing the nation’ by reacting ‘so rapidly to Haiti.’
“I agree that the crashers should have been charged had they been caught in fraganti but it would be very petty from the service to charge them now after no harm was done.”
“Police are security services and should not engage in petty politicking and certainly shouldn't be so easily offended.”
“Though they hold higher office, some of them engage in petty, obstructionist behaviors that are reminiscent of a high school student instead of intelligent and educated men and women.”
“The UK risks a wave of layabouts indulging in petty grievances against imagined slights, in what police warn could become a "Summer of George".”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘petty’.
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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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MyWordList
for GRE Vocab Building
eccentricity, rife, epiphany, menial, assert, plod, scathing, petty, chum, dilatory, prolific, banal and 10 more...
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Unknown
coalition, cabinet, tweet, defuse, steep, ancestral, mindset, breach, infraction, egregious, curb, backbite and 282 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 11184 more...
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2nd part
prelude, ample, escalate, prototype, accession, acquisition, archives, zealot, indict, verdict, intimidating, timid and 454 more...
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Twitter favorites
The new favourite words of people on Twitter.
A script searches Twitter for "X is my new favorite word" and adds it to this list.
See also:
grabbable, retuiteando, leaving, fantastic, absolutely, kurwa, hella, ridic, underpass, hate, interlude, plush and 2369 more... -
newGRE
mostly from magoosh
imbue, verge on, nonchalant, deliberate, timorous, futile, provisional, dissect, checked, tinged, alluring, visionary and 1046 more...
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GMAT
part of speech, frown, brow, immensely, immense, incomprehensible, toil, concision, concise, proper noun, hyphenated, dash and 190 more...
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From Book - SAT & College Dictionary ...
ebb, exotic, immure, abeyance, panegyric, debonair, protege, dissipate, frantic, penitent, abject, edify and 871 more...
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Reading Random
Got unknown words randomly
delinquency, modicum, dissuade, incendiary, destitute, lachrymose, plight, ruse, empirical, pedantic, demography, giggle and 444 more...
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favorite words
ennui, bonhomie, eschew, liaison, serendipity, lovely, dusk, kitten, epitome, sexy, beloved, darling and 396 more...
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wordsmithing part deux
because wordsmith is not a verb.
enmity, incarnate, chignon, nape, solitude, nocturne, decorum, warren, svelte, interstice, serene, charlotte and 488 more...
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pop ups
erstwhile, allegiance, sacked, reinstate, vengeance, affluent, sedative, maverick, caricatives, abandoned, faux pas, ambience and 245 more...
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botello360's list
ruminate, steel, bifurcation, arrivederci, portage, tactile, ruminant, rift, anecdotage, diacritic, cud, hull and 399 more...
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ash
ash
abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abide, abject, abjure and 4874 more...
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Known
stethoscope, triage, yule, vanity, bonehead, folly, petty, perpendicular, burnish, citrus, intrepid, waft and 52 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for petty.
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