paltry

adjective

pal·​try ˈpȯl-trē 

paltrier; paltriest

1

: inferior, trashy

built paltry houses unfit for occupancy

2

: mean, despicable

a paltry trick

3

: trivial

a paltry excuse

they in their greatness don't have to bother with such paltry restrictions

—Vanessa Feltz

4

: meager, measly

made a paltry donation

Sales have increased by a paltry two percent.

paltriness noun

Did you know?

Before "paltry" was an adjective, it was a noun meaning "trash." That now obsolete noun in turn came from "palt" or "pelt," dialect terms meaning "a piece of coarse cloth," or broadly, "trash." The adjective "paltry" first meant "trashy," but currently has a number of senses, all generally meaning "no good." A "paltry house" might be run-down and unfit for occupancy; a "paltry trick" is a trick that is low-down and dirty; a "paltry excuse" is a trivial one; and a "paltry sum" is small and insufficient.

Synonyms

• pitiful
• lame
• cheap
• wretched
• dirty
• mean
• nasty

Examples of paltry in a Sentence

a paltry, underhanded scheme to get someone fired

the hotel's shabby, outdated exercise room was its paltry attempt at a health spa

Recent Examples on the Web

The Thunder shot a paltry 8-of-30 on 3-pointers and were smoked in 1-on-1 ball. —Steven Louis Goldstein, New York Times, 22 June 2025

But highly damaged Mark, whose upbringing was evidently a nightmare of abuse, has found salvation, or at least escape: He’s ordained himself a servant of the Lord, holding improvisational services in the prison chapel to a paltry flock. —Dennis Harvey, Variety, 20 June 2025

Paul Goldschmidt’s batting average has dropped from .338 to .304 in June, and his batting line this month is a paltry .170/.241/.245. —Daniel R. Epstein, Forbes.com, 18 June 2025

In this brief moment of time traveling, everything else felt far away— even our increasingly alarmingly political times, marked by a paltry event disguised as a military parade that our eerily authoritarian president was hosting just a few miles from the festival. —Maya Georgi, Rolling Stone, 16 June 2025

Word History

Etymology

obsolete paltry trash, from dialect palt, pelt piece of coarse cloth, trash; akin to Middle Low German palte rag

First Known Use

1565, in the meaning defined at sense 1

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Kids Definition

paltry

adjective

pal·​try ˈpȯl-trē 

paltrier; paltriest

1

: petty sense 3, mean

a paltry trick

2

: trivial sense 2, worthless

a paltry sum

paltriness noun