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
Sustainable, charitable, and delightfully petty, this gift proves Valentine’s Day can support bugs, love, pettiness and conservation all at once.
—
Dianne Plummer, Forbes.com, 26 Jan. 2026
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
Dianne Plummer, Forbes.com, 26 Jan. 2026
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
Recent Examples of Synonyms for pettiness
Noun
-
Mainstream culture has consistently glorified smallness as ideal for women’s health, but the key to high performance and aging well is strength over size.—
Alexa Mikhail,
Flow Space,
4 Feb. 2026
-
As microschools multiply, researchers are starting to track what happens when a model built on smallness starts to grow.—
Noah Alcala Bach,
San Antonio Express-News,
24 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
-
Any piece of art begins in triviality.—
Joshua Rothman,
New Yorker,
13 Feb. 2026
-
But with an opportunity to add a player such as Giannis, such triviality can be left for another day (or by the Heat shaving another salary at the deadline).—
Ira Winderman,
Sun Sentinel,
28 Jan. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Pettiness.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/pettiness. Accessed 17 Feb. 2026.
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