as in nominal
so small or unimportant as to warrant little or no attention
from his perspective as a billionaire, what the governor got paid was a piffling amount
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Recent Examples of Synonyms for piffling
Adjective
-
The bulls claim that trend justifies today’s valuations, and that EPS can keep rolling in double-digits while national income trudges at a nominal 5% or so.—
Shawn Tully,
Fortune,
19 Apr. 2026 -
Funds routed through weakly regulated financial centers, often under nominal compliance regimes, help seed narratives designed to divide Western societies and undermine political cohesion.—
Gaurav Srivastava,
The Washington Examiner,
19 Apr. 2026
Verb
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Verizon never would have gotten the chance to buy Yahoo’s online operations if not for the company’s perpetual blundering under seven different CEOs in 16 years.—
Michael Liedtke,
Fortune,
29 Mar. 2026
-
Verizon never would have gotten the chance to buy Yahoo’s online operations if not for the company’s perpetual blundering under seven different CEOs in 16 years.—
Michael Liedtke,
Los Angeles Times,
27 Mar. 2026
Adjective
-
Meanwhile, walnuts lend a slight crunch throughout.—
Cameron Beall,
Southern Living,
11 Apr. 2026
-
Cloud cover is forecasted to stick around all day, and temperatures are likely to top out in the low 80s this afternoon with a slight breeze from the south.—
Lauren Bostwick,
CBS News,
11 Apr. 2026
Verb
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Ken Holland, general manager, B Holland arrived on the scene of a muddling franchise that had lost four straight first-round series to the same opponent.—
Andrew Knoll,
Daily News,
7 Feb. 2026
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The new estimate was based on accounting for some of those muddling data points.—
Andrew Joseph,
STAT,
29 Jan. 2026
Adjective
-
There are some pretty gross, petty and violent acts of revenge.—
Yvonne Villarreal,
Los Angeles Times,
17 Apr. 2026
-
What is the pettiest thing that annoys you during a race weekend?—
Jeff Gluck,
New York Times,
15 Apr. 2026
Verb
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Advertisement All eyes will be on Ilia Malinin, for the stunning array of quadruple jumps that the Virginia native pulls off with a mind boggling ease.—
Alice Park,
Time,
12 Jan. 2026
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Jerry's approach is so mind boggling.—
Melissa Ruggieri,
USA Today,
30 Dec. 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
Verb
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And Kash Patel's FBI seems to be bungling the investigation at every step.—
K. Thor Jensen,
PC Magazine,
13 Mar. 2026
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Cricket was shot for yapping uncontrollably, bungling the mission, and killing innocent bystanders.—
Jonathan Chait,
The Atlantic,
5 Mar. 2026
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Cite this Entry
“Piffling.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/piffling. Accessed 24 Apr. 2026.
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