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
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
Among their inspiring behaviors, these characters deserve to also express pettiness and selfishness, or, at the very least, more wit.
—Jackson McHenry, Vulture, 19 Sep. 2025
That’s the kind of extreme pettiness that Row Z can firmly get behind.
—Tim Spiers, New York Times, 19 Aug. 2025
The American people are seeking solace and inspiration from its leaders, not pettiness and skullduggery.
—Chicago Tribune, 10 Aug. 2025
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
Among their inspiring behaviors, these characters deserve to also express pettiness and selfishness, or, at the very least, more wit.
—Jackson McHenry, Vulture, 19 Sep. 2025
That’s the kind of extreme pettiness that Row Z can firmly get behind.
—Tim Spiers, New York Times, 19 Aug. 2025
The American people are seeking solace and inspiration from its leaders, not pettiness and skullduggery.
—Chicago Tribune, 10 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for pettiness
Noun
-
Identify every instance of victim language, limitation beliefs, or smallness thinking.—
Jodie Cook,
Forbes.com,
2 Sep. 2025
-
Hawley, who directed the premiere, brings an impressive sense of scale to the action, conveying the hugeness of the spaceship and its urban crash zone, contrasted with the smallness of the figures trying to make their way through the mayhem.—
Noel Murray,
Vulture,
13 Aug. 2025
Noun
-
Her difficulty lay in her distance from the random violence of insignificance.—
Rachel Cusk,
New Yorker,
24 Aug. 2025
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His groundbreaking work reveals how a hidden epidemic of insignificance is quietly eroding engagement, trust, and performance in organizations, and what leaders can do to reverse it.—
Rodger Dean Duncan,
Forbes.com,
8 July 2025
Noun
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For Herzog, this simultaneous coexistence of high art and triviality is part of LA’s twisted genius.—
Nick Lichtenberg,
Fortune,
28 Sep. 2025
-
The token slivers of human-interest drama (a divorce battle, a visit to the pediatrician) that are meant to counterpoint the possibility of Armageddon with the oh-so-ironic triviality of quotidian concerns.—
Owen Gleiberman,
Variety,
2 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Pettiness.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/pettiness. Accessed 9 Oct. 2025.
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