as in nominal
so small or unimportant as to warrant little or no attention
there's only a piddly difference in price between the two paintings, so take whichever you prefer
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of piddly
This stole the top spot from 1993, with its piddly 76 days over 100.
—
Hayleigh Evans, The Arizona Republic, 21 Dec. 2024
This stole the top spot from 1993, with its piddly 76 days over 100.
—Hayleigh Evans, The Arizona Republic, 21 Dec. 2024
Adding an additional 23,000 km is really a piddly amount.
—Phil Plait, Discover Magazine, 21 Sep. 2010
Online savings accounts have proliferated in recent years, offering higher yields than the piddly rates attached to ordinary savings accounts, which are less than 0.1%, on average.
—Ryan Dezember, WSJ, 11 Nov. 2022
Byrne is still a United States congressman and that’s no piddly thing.
—Kyle Whitmire, al, 7 Nov. 2019
This information isn't written in the controller's piddly instruction manual.
—Sam MacHkovech, Ars Technica, 16 Nov. 2018
After Kilauea's 1924 summit explosions, the volcano entered a decade of piddly rumblings, followed by 18 years of silence.
—Sophia Yan and Malcolm Ritter, The Christian Science Monitor, 7 June 2018
But sometimes self-denial is its own form of power, as you are no doubt noticing, crammed into that piddly apartment.
—Helaine Olen, Slate Magazine, 25 Jan. 2017
Hayleigh Evans, The Arizona Republic, 21 Dec. 2024
This stole the top spot from 1993, with its piddly 76 days over 100.
—Hayleigh Evans, The Arizona Republic, 21 Dec. 2024
Adding an additional 23,000 km is really a piddly amount.
—Phil Plait, Discover Magazine, 21 Sep. 2010
Online savings accounts have proliferated in recent years, offering higher yields than the piddly rates attached to ordinary savings accounts, which are less than 0.1%, on average.
—Ryan Dezember, WSJ, 11 Nov. 2022
Byrne is still a United States congressman and that’s no piddly thing.
—Kyle Whitmire, al, 7 Nov. 2019
This information isn't written in the controller's piddly instruction manual.
—Sam MacHkovech, Ars Technica, 16 Nov. 2018
After Kilauea's 1924 summit explosions, the volcano entered a decade of piddly rumblings, followed by 18 years of silence.
—Sophia Yan and Malcolm Ritter, The Christian Science Monitor, 7 June 2018
But sometimes self-denial is its own form of power, as you are no doubt noticing, crammed into that piddly apartment.
—Helaine Olen, Slate Magazine, 25 Jan. 2017
Recent Examples of Synonyms for piddly
Adjective
-
Chris Lombardi, founder of Matador Records, recalls first pitching Perry’s idea to Stephen Malkmus, the band’s notoriously laconic chief songwriter, singer, guitarist and nominal leader.—
Mark Olsen,
Los Angeles Times,
8 May 2025
-
What’s more, most state parks have no admission fee while a few charge a nominal fee of a few dollars.—
Roger Sands,
Forbes.com,
4 May 2025
Adjective
-
However, at some point while walking the red carpet on Saturday, May 17, the two got mixed up in slight blunder when the Twilight star, 39, ended up standing on top of his costar's elegant Dior gown that, according to Vogue, took 250 hours to create.—
Michelle Lee,
People.com,
19 May 2025
-
Meanwhile, a DeepMind researcher discussed adversarial machine learning, a phenomenon where slight manipulations to input data can drastically alter an AI’s output.—
Korok Ray,
Forbes.com,
19 May 2025
Adjective
-
During the war, the U.S. military printed more than a million tiny paperback books for men to carry into battle, called Armed Services Editions.—
Martha Hall Kelly,
People.com,
16 May 2025
-
In the video above, the user added a tiny fairy bridge over her faux water scene.—
Sophia Beams,
Better Homes & Gardens,
16 May 2025
Adjective
-
Each encounter brings four options for how to beat that opponent, a prime opportunity to make petty jokes.—
Jayna Bardahl,
New York Times,
16 May 2025
-
As a result, defendants in Colorado’s municipal courts can face much longer sentences than those in state court for the same petty offenses, The Denver Post previously found.—
Sam Tabachnik,
Denver Post,
16 May 2025
Adjective
-
Then, the pandemic reduced the schedule to 60 games and Eddie got a piddling 37%.—
Star Tribune,
Star Tribune,
3 Dec. 2020
-
Millions of additional claims are expected to stream in from around the country over the coming weeks, while hiring remains piddling.—
Patricia Cohen,
New York Times,
23 Apr. 2020
Adjective
-
In the images, the monuments engraved with species’ names rise like canyon walls above tiny, almost insignificant humans.—
Keridwen Cornelius,
New York Times,
3 May 2025
-
Recommended Viewing Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018) Then come the other members of the Thunderbolts team who have smaller — yet not insignificant — roles in the movie.—
Barry Levitt,
Vulture,
1 May 2025
Adjective
-
Harnessing The Power Of Data For AI The data in your organization’s repositories, even the data that seems trivial, like emails or archived contracts, has inherent value to your business.—
Jesse Todd,
Forbes.com,
19 May 2025
-
Matt steps outside his Hollywood bubble and realizes how small and trivial his problems are.—
Joe Reid,
Vulture,
22 Apr. 2025
Adjective
-
The players made a paltry sum of money compared to today's mega-millionaire contracts and were angry about the team owner, Charles Comiskey, paying them a pittance.—
Patricio Chile,
ABC News,
13 May 2025
-
There were a multitude of factors more responsible for the loss than the officiating, including Anthony Edwards’ 0-for-10 start to the game, the Wolves shooting 5 for 29 from 3-point range and scoring a paltry 31 points in the first half.—
Anthony Slater,
New York Times,
8 May 2025
Cite this Entry
“Piddly.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/piddly. Accessed 23 May. 2025.
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