as in small beer
something of little importance
our lives don't amount to a picayune in the great scheme of things
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Example Sentences
Recent Examples of Synonyms for picayunes
Noun
-
Of course, a pipeline is small beer compared to the world’s largest island, Greenland, laden with energy resources and rare earths.—
Llewellyn King,
Forbes.com,
31 Aug. 2025 -
No one has ever rushed to the theatre for the sake of Hero and Claudio, the secondary lovers, whose wooings and sunderings, though eventful, seem like very small beer compared with the rich flirtatious spirits of the primary pair.—
Anthony Lane,
New Yorker,
28 Mar. 2025
Noun
-
As street protests entered a second day, demonstrators set fire to the Supreme Court building, and smoke was seen pouring out of the country’s Parliament complex, The New York Times reported.—
Paige Bruton,
semafor.com,
9 Sep. 2025
-
Where there’s smoke, there might be fire.—
Bernie Pleskoff,
Forbes.com,
9 Sep. 2025
Noun
-
Advertisement Foulkes and Michôd did have to make some small changes to Martin's story.—
Esther Zuckerman,
Time,
6 Sep. 2025
-
Even small changes, like walking to school a few days a week, can improve energy and build lifelong healthy habits.—
Brian Castrucci,
Forbes.com,
3 Sep. 2025
Noun
-
Strong technical leaders don't just translate between the world of zeros and ones and the world of dollars and cents.—
Meeky Hwang,
Forbes.com,
25 Aug. 2025
-
That is, they are composed of on/off switches strung together in logic circuits that process data as a string of binary ones and zeros.—
New Atlas,
New Atlas,
21 Aug. 2025
Noun
-
Busta Rhymes also took the stage for a medley of his songs before he was honored with the Rock the Bells Visionary Award.—
Daysia Tolentino,
Entertainment Weekly,
8 Sep. 2025
-
Interestingly, just like Lisa, BTS have won the Best K-Pop award for songs sung primarily in both Korean and English.—
Jeff Benjamin,
Forbes.com,
8 Sep. 2025
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.
Cite this Entry
“Picayunes.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/picayunes. Accessed 11 Sep. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share