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
  • And while there are slight deviations between Baby Boomers, Gen X, and Millennial shopping habits, Gen Z appears to be changing the game altogether.
    — Olivia B. Waxman, Time, 28 Oct. 2026
  • Made from 98-percent cotton and 2-percent spandex, these pants have a slight stretch to them along with functional front and back pockets.
    — Caroline Hughes, Travel + Leisure, 28 Oct. 2026
Definition of slight
Adjective
  • The other was Albrecht Hohler, thirty, a Communist member of the paramilitary group the Red Front Fighters and well known locally as a particularly vicious thug—a petty criminal who had been released from jail only a few months earlier.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 27 Oct. 2026
  • Here, the book loosens its grip on its wholesome view of the Westish clique, letting its characters do several ugly and petty and longed-for things—letting them, in other words, grow up.
    — Emma Alpern, Vulture, 26 Oct. 2026
Definition of petty
Adjective
  • Researchers implant pairs of tiny magnets into a muscle and position external sensors over the skin.
    — Kaif Shaikh, Interesting Engineering, 29 Oct. 2026
  • To stretch your legs, grab one of the resort’s bikes and take the half-hour ride on the narrow, largely traffic-free dirt road down to Punto Allen, a tiny fishing village with a picturesque lighthouse.
    — Condé Nast, Condé Nast Traveler, 29 Oct. 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
  • Cut to terra ferma, where the almighty rainstorm soaking the streets of Rome seems a comparatively trifling bit of weather.
    — Guy Lodge, Variety, 7 Sep. 2026
  • In less trifling hands, there’s no telling what these tools could do, are doing now.
    — CHRIS COLIN, Wired News, 18 May 2026
Definition of trifling
Adjective
  • Here's where the high diesel prices add up tough – what little hay there is, is a lot more expensive to harvest.
    — Anna King, NPR, 25 Oct. 2026
  • The prince didn’t have any luck in blocking Kelce, which comes as little surprise given the Chiefs star knows how to avoid defensive players.
    — Pete Grathoff, Kansas City Star, 24 Oct. 2026
Definition of little
Adjective
  • These sounds are strange bedfellows, but the delirium rarely feels indulgent or trivial.
    — Kieran Press-Reynolds, Pitchfork, 26 Oct. 2026
  • Wiring the Teensy to the magnetic-imaging tile was trivial, only complicated by the fact that one side of the board has a silk-screen error that misidentifies the SPI connections (SparkFun says this will be fixed in future runs of the board).
    — Stephen Cass, IEEE Spectrum, 26 Oct. 2026
Definition of trivial
Adjective
  • Chris regards his role in the deaths and disappearances of thousands of innocents with a weary shrug—and, on rare dark nights of the soul, a piddling note of regret.
    — Justin Chang, New Yorker, 30 Oct. 2026
  • Then, the pandemic reduced the schedule to 60 games and Eddie got a piddling 37%.
    — Star Tribune, Star Tribune, 3 Dec. 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 4 Nov. 2026.

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