pettifogging

adjective

Definition of pettifoggingnext
as in slight
old-fashioned worrying too much about details that are minor or not important pettifogging lawyers

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Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for pettifogging
  1. slight
  2. petty
  3. tiny
  4. minute
  5. trifling
  6. little
  7. trivial
  8. piddling
Adjective
  • The delicate shape still nods to classic ballet flats, but the slight heel gives everything a little more polish, making the pairing feel less Sunday lunch with your nan and more Copenhagen Fashion Week.
    — Georgia Brown, Glamour, 29 Aug. 2026
  • Early pothole testing actually caused a slight structural bend in a rear swingarm.
    — New Atlas, New Atlas, 29 Aug. 2026
Definition of slight
Adjective
  • But armed officers dressed in camouflage alongside military vehicles have apparently not acted as enough of a deterrent to petty criminals.
    — Antonia Mortensen, CNN Money, 2 Sep. 2026
  • The jury found both Morrow and Stanley guilty of petty misdemeanor charges of obstructing federal property, disrupting government officials’ duties and failing to comply with officials’ orders.
    — Charlotte Observer, Charlotte Observer, 2 Sep. 2026
Definition of petty
Adjective
  • Our study takes only a tiny step – but still a step – in that direction, helping to nail down the mechanism of exotic superconductivity in graphene.
    — Neetika Walter, Interesting Engineering, 5 Sep. 2026
  • The grand scale of cosmic time reminds her (and us) that social mores and strictures are tiny, meaningless things, that what matters is passion and freedom.
    — Bilge Ebiri, Vulture, 4 Sep. 2026
Definition of tiny
Adjective
  • Some people even enjoy minute quantities as a recreational drug.
    — Mattha Busby, Rolling Stone, 19 Aug. 2026
  • There are so many models out there from so many manufacturers, with minute differences between them.
    — K. Thor Jensen, PC Magazine, 25 June 2026
Definition of minute
Adjective
  • In less trifling hands, there’s no telling what these tools could do, are doing now.
    — CHRIS COLIN, Wired News, 18 May 2026
  • Meanwhile, that global temperature record that DiCaprio mentioned in his acceptance speech in 2016 seems almost trifling compared to what has happened since.
    — Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 19 Mar. 2026
Definition of trifling
Adjective
  • Elsewhere, Hailey Bieber gave us a lesson in polished wedding guest glam, while Joey King played with the little details on the Practical Magic 2 promo tour.
    — Anna Cafolla, Vogue, 5 Sep. 2026
  • Bohm cited a 2020 crash that killed 20-year-old driver Ezekial Bishop and his passenger, 18-year-old Ryan Breaux, recording artist Frank Ocean's little brother.
    — Amanda Lee Myers, USA Today, 4 Sep. 2026
Definition of little
Adjective
  • Getting that apparently trivial behavior working involved Home Assistant, MQTT, custom software, and more Claude, Codex and ChatGPT tokens than one should reasonably associate with boiling pasta.
    — New Atlas, New Atlas, 27 Aug. 2026
  • Thousands of comments flooded the post mocking the department for spending its time on such a trivial matter.
    — Frank Landymore, Futurism, 27 Aug. 2026
Definition of trivial
Adjective
  • Then, the pandemic reduced the schedule to 60 games and Eddie got a piddling 37%.
    — Star Tribune, Star Tribune, 3 Dec. 2020
  • Millions of additional claims are expected to stream in from around the country over the coming weeks, while hiring remains piddling.
    — Patricia Cohen, New York Times, 23 Apr. 2020
Definition of piddling
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Browse Nearby Words

pettifoggers
pettifogging
pettiness
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Cite this Entry

“Pettifogging.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/pettifogging. Accessed 6 Sep. 2026.

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