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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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
-
The Eagles saved a nominal amount of money after months of negotiations.—
Brooks Kubena,
New York Times,
29 May 2025
-
But cheers were somewhat subdued until about 10 minutes after launch—when operators officially determined that the spacecraft’s trajectory was nominal, taking it on a ballistic suborbital path through outer space.—
Gayoung Lee,
Scientific American,
28 May 2025
Adjective
-
Bure may not have meant it as a slight, but one of the more notable offenders was Growing Pains, which costarred her brother, Kirk Cameron.—
Jordan Hoffman,
EW.com,
13 June 2025
-
In a slight twist on the usual, the chefs not only get to choose their own sous-chefs, but only those sous-chefs have been flown to Italy for the occasion.—
Caroline Framke,
Vulture,
13 June 2025
Adjective
-
And with the ability to connect more than 120 devices, the tiny Slate 7 is suitable for use by work teams, families and multi-device users.—
Mark Sparrow,
Forbes.com,
8 June 2025
-
Don't give in to temptation and cross over with your mower—not even a tiny bit.—
Brandee Gruener,
Southern Living,
8 June 2025
Adjective
-
Which party is willing to set aside petty differences and ego, and work in the interests of American prosperity?—
Reed Albergotti,
semafor.com,
6 June 2025
-
This Christlike journey of scapegoating and torment ends in comeuppance for the haters and doubters, whose petty provocations tend to evoke a Bond villain in adolescence.—
Joshua Hunt,
Vulture,
5 June 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
-
Though the majority of planetary systems scatter their planets without trapping them, the portion of systems with wide-orbit planets isn’t insignificant.—
Sam Walters,
Discover Magazine,
28 May 2025
-
After being thrust into debates about the greatest players to have graced the Premier League and hailed as City’s best ever player by chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak — a not insignificant claim — he can be left in no doubt about how he will be remembered.—
Sam Lee,
New York Times,
21 May 2025
Adjective
-
Every interaction, no matter how trivial, could end up being a bit.—
Zak Keefer,
New York Times,
30 May 2025
-
This explains why trivial choices, like what to wear or eat and many more throughout your day can leave you mentally exhausted before tackling important tasks.—
Mark Travers,
Forbes.com,
26 May 2025
Adjective
-
This paltry increase is even more worrying given drastic price cuts seen in the EV market in 2024.—
Ashley Nunes,
Boston Herald,
7 June 2025
-
The total in the first quarter of 2017 was a paltry $15,232.—
Ken Roberts,
Forbes.com,
4 June 2025
Cite this Entry
“Piddly.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/piddly. Accessed 16 Jun. 2025.
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