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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
  • Another clever stunt that Althoff pulled off on the The Really Good Podcast was that she was involved in a slight-of-hand brand stunt with L’Oreal’s CeraVe.
    — Anthony D'Alessandro, Deadline, 16 Sep. 2026
  • Chubb was a slight disappointment in his Bills debut from a pass-rushing perspective.
    — Joe Buscaglia, New York Times, 16 Sep. 2026
Definition of slight
Adjective
  • The good and the bad of democracy — healthy debate and petty political theater — were on display that weekend in Brussels.
    — Esther King, The Dial, 15 Sep. 2026
  • Mehring’s characters include petty criminals, unscrupulous lawyers, Galician Jews, Freikorps heavies, local and international businessmen, Prussian generals, and the everyday citizens inhabiting the streets of Berlin’s old and rather dingy center.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 9 Sep. 2026
Definition of petty
Adjective
  • Wool makes up a tiny percentage of fashion’s fiber basket, and in sustainability circles, it is often touted as a perfect playground for better farming practices, and a natural alternative to synthetic performance fabrics.
    — Bella Webb, Vogue, 16 Sep. 2026
  • His partner, six-time DWTS competitor Britt Stewart, speaks to him quietly, offering gentle direction and making tiny posture adjustments that instantly sharpen his moves.
    — Lily Moayeri, Rolling Stone, 16 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
  • 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
  • That’s right — after three straight Friday-night deadlines, Gameweek Four gets under way at 3pm on Saturday, handing you that little bit of extra time to agonise over the right moves for the next round of action.
    — Ben Dinnery, New York Times, 11 Sep. 2026
  • Jongmin Lee, a quantum sensing scientist at SNL, has been working to build an extremely small version of this device, one that consumes very little power and can be used in the field.
    — Ameya Paleja, Interesting Engineering, 11 Sep. 2026
Definition of little
Adjective
  • One of the most interesting and useful things that romantic drama, classic or modern, can do is to distinguish essential characteristics from trivial ones.
    — Richard Brody, New Yorker, 9 Sep. 2026
  • At the same time, the impact/value can be low when autonomous operations are only applied to trivial, time-consuming tasks.
    — Karthik Kannan, Forbes.com, 8 Sep. 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 20 Sep. 2026.

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