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
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
Adding an additional 23,000 km is really a piddly amount.
—Phil Plait, Discover Magazine, 21 Sep. 2010
Hayleigh Evans, The Arizona Republic, 21 Dec. 2024
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
Adding an additional 23,000 km is really a piddly amount.
—Phil Plait, Discover Magazine, 21 Sep. 2010
Recent Examples of Synonyms for piddly
Adjective
-
There's a low nominal cost, but the fact is there was a really significant cost because of the bureaucracy and time and uncertainty, with a lot of companies tied up with it.—
Hugh Cameron,
MSNBC Newsweek,
7 Oct. 2025
-
But analysts believe that figure was nominal if anything.—
Rebecca Rubin,
Variety,
6 Oct. 2025
Adjective
-
They are made of cotton with a slight stretch, but still have structure in the front.—
Chaunie Brusie,
Parents,
7 Oct. 2025
-
Herro was an All-Star last year while Ball wasn’t; Herro’s injury gives the Hornets a slight edge in these rankings.—
Law Murray,
New York Times,
7 Oct. 2025
Adjective
-
On a soupy September morning in northeast Wisconsin, a blue semi-truck arrives at Tisch Mills Farm Center in the tiny town of Carlton.—
Miranda Dunlap,
jsonline.com,
6 Oct. 2025
-
In an ideal world, a tiny home could provide the ideal solution for in-laws to have space to visit your home for extended visits.—
Chaunie Brusie,
Parents,
6 Oct. 2025
Adjective
-
But for his wife, the damage is deeper than a petty argument over a pet.—
Tereza Shkurtaj,
PEOPLE,
5 Oct. 2025
-
Throughout the summer, Joanne leads her lovable, chaotic crew through a season of strikeouts, petty rivalries, conservative-politician sponsors, and sexy carwash fundraisers gone wrong.—
Jesse Whittock,
Deadline,
2 Oct. 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
-
Probably not, but those HBO dramas, one a reasonably large success and the other a large failure, represent a not-insignificant portion of Scorsese’s output from the past 15 years.—
Daniel Fienberg,
HollywoodReporter,
4 Oct. 2025
-
The taxes and fees for these awards aren’t insignificant.—
Meghan Hunter,
CNBC,
1 Oct. 2025
Adjective
-
For Washington, this was no trivial matter.—
Maurizio Valsania,
The Conversation,
2 Oct. 2025
-
Afterward, a Congressional Budget Office (CBO) investigation concluded that the economic impact was small, but not trivial.—
Eleanor Pringle,
Fortune,
30 Sep. 2025
Adjective
-
Fed Chair Jerome Powell had already opened the door to a September rate cut during a speech last month before the BLS released another brutal jobs report Friday, showing a paltry gain of 29,000 jobs in August.—
Sylvan Lane,
The Hill,
9 Sep. 2025
-
But those refunds were relatively paltry.—
Erin Doherty,
CNBC,
8 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Piddly.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/piddly. Accessed 8 Oct. 2025.
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