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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Patrick addressed the tension between his team and the Lions after the game, taking a slight jab at the way Detroit behaves on the field.—
Natasha Dye,
PEOPLE,
14 Oct. 2025 -
In more recent trading, there was a slight recovery that brought values back over 65 cents.—
SJ Guest Editorial,
Sourcing Journal,
14 Oct. 2025
Adjective
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Who among us hasn’t fantasized in the shower about exacting elaborate revenge for petty upsets, or lain awake trying to reframe our humiliations as epic tales of triumph?—
Angie Han,
HollywoodReporter,
11 Oct. 2025
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Strahinja Jokic, 43, was sentenced to a year of probation on the misdemeanor and petty offenses, according to the Denver district attorney’s office.—
Shelly Bradbury,
Denver Post,
10 Oct. 2025
Adjective
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In many respects, CDMS users receive the powerful anti-ship capabilities of a surface warfare vessel worth many hundreds of millions of dollars for just a tiny fraction of that price.—
Prabhat Ranjan Mishra,
Interesting Engineering,
11 Oct. 2025
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Spiders have venom to subdue prey, but the majority have fangs that are too tiny to puncture human skin.—
Arricca Elin SanSone,
Southern Living,
11 Oct. 2025
Adjective
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The biggest challenge the researchers realized was building a set of algorithms that were sensitive enough to allow minute adjustments to insulin doses and flexible enough to work for millions of patients.—
Carrie Arnold,
Scientific American,
14 Oct. 2025
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Researchers believe this approach could enable next-generation sensors to detect minute physical changes on Earth and in orbit.—
Sujita Sinha,
Interesting Engineering,
10 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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Such matters were neither trivial nor flighty.—
David Folkenflik,
NPR,
16 Oct. 2025
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This would involve assessing what the fate of the wood without intervention—and that’s no trivial feat.—
Syris Valentine,
Scientific American,
16 Oct. 2025
Adjective
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Meanwhile, Bad Bunny has commented little, save for an SNL monologue poking fun at the situation.—
Rolling Stone,
Rolling Stone,
12 Oct. 2025
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After Texas produced little in the run game at Florida, Wisner proved elusive, dodging and breaking tackles to produce chunk plays and keep Texas moving down the field.—
Sam Khan Jr,
New York Times,
12 Oct. 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 20 Oct. 2025.
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