picayunes

noun

plural of picayune
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

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Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for picayunes
  1. small beer
  2. smoke
  3. small change
  4. trivialities
  5. zeros
  6. trifles
  7. songs
Noun
  • In terms of drinks, colonists didn't have ways to purify their water, so people drank small beer or weak wine, Miller said.
    — Ava Berger, NPR, 28 June 2026
  • In comparison, fifth-tier Wrexham must have seemed like small beer, even allowing for the takeover by Reynolds and Mac just a few months earlier.
    — Richard Sutcliffe, New York Times, 26 June 2026
Definition of small beer
Noun
  • Heavy smoke could also be seen on a downtown Toledo webcam stream.
    — Paula Wethington, CBS News, 18 Aug. 2026
  • Back in mid-April, a plume of smoke caught the eye of Smith, the Yankees exec.
    — Sam Blum, New York Times, 18 Aug. 2026
Definition of smoke
Noun
  • There have been small changes to the ownership structures of Arsenal, Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur in the last decade but without control ever being relinquished.
    — Philip Buckingham, New York Times, 19 Aug. 2026
  • An Imperial College London study in 2020 found that small changes to flight paths could reduce the climate impact of contrails.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 18 Aug. 2026
Definition of small change
Noun
  • Spain’s shrewdness came in their refusal to engage with off-the-ball trivialities.
    — Adam Crafton, New York Times, 20 July 2026
  • After debuting in 2007, The Big Bang Theory entertained viewers with the everyday trivialities and obsessions of friends who work in science.
    — Lincee Ray, Entertainment Weekly, 15 June 2026
Definition of trivialities
Noun
  • The needle goes into the record, and the signal is continuous, and digital, of course, breaks it up into zeros and ones.
    — Chris O'Falt, IndieWire, 19 Aug. 2026
  • Stripped of the zeroes, the ask is for a young business to reach Meta's scale in two more years.
    — Jon Markman, Forbes.com, 18 Aug. 2026
Definition of zeros
Noun
  • But in the past year, the scope of insider trading has grown to unprecedented levels thanks to new platforms like Kalshi and Polymarket that offer bets on everything from major world events to celebrity trifles.
    — Jeff John Roberts, Fortune, 2 Apr. 2026
  • Treaties were trifles compared to armies and bullets.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 23 Feb. 2026
Definition of trifles
Noun
  • The production features songs by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, a book by Tim Federle and direction and choreography by Casey Nicholaw.
    — Naman Ramachandran, Variety, 15 Aug. 2026
  • Their friendship was one of many laughs, songs and adventures.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 14 Aug. 2026
Definition of songs
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.

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picayune
picayunes
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Cite this Entry

“Picayunes.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/picayunes. Accessed 21 Aug. 2026.

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