as in negligibility
the quality or state of being unimportant
the astonishing pettiness of most of the things that she fusses over
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Recent Examples of pettiness
Here’s a good summation of the pettiness.
—
Chris Branch, New York Times, 16 Jan. 2026
Florida has had enough of pettiness, politic stunts and petulance.
—Orlando Sentinel Editorial Board, The Orlando Sentinel, 14 Jan. 2026
The big swings through pettiness are their own form of vulnerability.
—Kathryn Vanarendonk, Vulture, 19 Dec. 2025
Judging by Wilson’s air guitaring a Nirvana song at the postparade rally and dancing onstage with Crime Mob, one of her favorite hip-hop groups, pettiness—at least her version of it—has taken an exuberant turn.
—Sean Gregory, Time, 10 Dec. 2025
The paranoia and pettiness between coach and general manager can no longer infect the locker room with Michael Malone and Calvin Booth long since fired.
—Troy Renck, Denver Post, 21 Oct. 2025
This week, in testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Attorney General Pam Bondi gave a master class in obfuscation, prevarication, and pettiness.
—John Ficarra, Air Mail, 11 Oct. 2025
Minaj leaned into her pettiness while taking shots at Kulture’s mom in her apology.
—Michael Saponara, Billboard, 3 Oct. 2025
The gesture’s lack of dignity, its childishness, its pettiness, are completely in character.
—Christopher Bonanos, Curbed, 25 Sep. 2025
Chris Branch, New York Times, 16 Jan. 2026
Florida has had enough of pettiness, politic stunts and petulance.
—Orlando Sentinel Editorial Board, The Orlando Sentinel, 14 Jan. 2026
The big swings through pettiness are their own form of vulnerability.
—Kathryn Vanarendonk, Vulture, 19 Dec. 2025
Judging by Wilson’s air guitaring a Nirvana song at the postparade rally and dancing onstage with Crime Mob, one of her favorite hip-hop groups, pettiness—at least her version of it—has taken an exuberant turn.
—Sean Gregory, Time, 10 Dec. 2025
The paranoia and pettiness between coach and general manager can no longer infect the locker room with Michael Malone and Calvin Booth long since fired.
—Troy Renck, Denver Post, 21 Oct. 2025
This week, in testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Attorney General Pam Bondi gave a master class in obfuscation, prevarication, and pettiness.
—John Ficarra, Air Mail, 11 Oct. 2025
Minaj leaned into her pettiness while taking shots at Kulture’s mom in her apology.
—Michael Saponara, Billboard, 3 Oct. 2025
The gesture’s lack of dignity, its childishness, its pettiness, are completely in character.
—Christopher Bonanos, Curbed, 25 Sep. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for pettiness
Noun
-
That smallness extends to the story’s scope.—
Nicholas Quah,
Vulture,
15 Jan. 2026
-
Its relative smallness, however, prevents the initiation of the nuclear processes that could have turned it into a full-fledged star.—
Joe Rao,
Space.com,
7 Jan. 2026
Noun
-
Problems shrink into insignificance.—
Shilo Urban,
Travel + Leisure,
22 Nov. 2025
-
Her difficulty lay in her distance from the random violence of insignificance.—
Rachel Cusk,
New Yorker,
24 Aug. 2025
Noun
-
Society has rationalized the human into triviality, and we’re stuck in a bad game.—
Dan Piepenbring,
Harpers Magazine,
30 Dec. 2025
-
Who was this irritant who had eluded the most sophisticated lawmen in the country, thanks to the triviality of his crimes?—
David Grann,
New Yorker,
19 Oct. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Pettiness.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/pettiness. Accessed 28 Jan. 2026.
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