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
Adjective
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Nobody who has even a slight awareness of how the organization does business expected the Ravens to trade multiple Day 1/2 draft picks for a player.—
Jeff Zrebiec,
New York Times,
5 Nov. 2025 -
Boston has the opportunity to shell out a qualifying offer for the veteran hurler, which would be a slight raise worth roughly $22 million.—
Shaun McAvoy,
MSNBC Newsweek,
5 Nov. 2025
Adjective
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Beccuau said the suspects charged so far appear to be petty criminals and blue-collar workers from northern Paris suburbs.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
3 Nov. 2025
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She also was cited on suspicion of disobeying a police officer, a petty offense that carries a fine.—
Nicquel Terry Ellis,
CNN Money,
2 Nov. 2025
Adjective
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At the previous World Cup in 2022, hosted by tiny Qatar, all of England’s games were in Doha or just outside that city.—
Jack Pitt-Brooke,
New York Times,
9 Nov. 2025
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Nanotubes are ultra-small cylindrical structures, so tiny that thousands could fit across the width of a human hair.—
Jijo Malayil,
Interesting Engineering,
9 Nov. 2025
Adjective
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Pulling it off would require trips to three different grocery stores and untold hours of exacting, minute tasks.—
Hannah Goldfield,
New Yorker,
3 Nov. 2025
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The most minute thing can change everything.—
Rosemary Feitelberg,
Footwear News,
17 Oct. 2025
Adjective
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Talk of mounting nuclear readiness towards Russia, which has more atomic weapons than any other country in the world, could overshadow more trifling domestic matters, like the Epstein scandal, for instance.—
Matthew Chance,
CNN Money,
2 Aug. 2025
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Pixar has long stood out by bringing something less trifling to theatergoing families.—
David Sims,
The Atlantic,
15 July 2025
Adjective
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This, of course, is trivial compared to the risk the Colorado River Basin’s shrinking snowpack poses to nearly every Southwest settlement, livelihood and life form that relies on its steady trickle downstream.—
Shaun McKinnon,
AZCentral.com,
4 Nov. 2025
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Misreading facial expressions isn’t trivial.—
Matt Fuchs,
Time,
4 Nov. 2025
Adjective
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Dick is sympathetic to Leroy’s perspective, noting that being Black in the military means having your personal life scrutinized, which is little comfort for Charlotte.—
Louis Peitzman,
Vulture,
10 Nov. 2025
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Sketches such as last night’s Oval Office monologue compact the coal of the administration’s info dumps into little diamonds of comedy, freeing the writers and cast to pursue more escapist fare.—
Erik Adams,
The Atlantic,
9 Nov. 2025
Adjective
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Then, the pandemic reduced the schedule to 60 games and Eddie got a piddling 37%.—
Star Tribune,
Star Tribune,
3 Dec. 2020
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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
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“Pettifogging.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/pettifogging. Accessed 10 Nov. 2025.
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