pettifogging

adjective

Definition of pettifoggingnext
as in slight
old-fashioned worrying too much about details that are minor or not important pettifogging lawyers

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Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for pettifogging
  1. slight
  2. petty
  3. tiny
  4. minute
  5. trifling
  6. little
  7. trivial
  8. piddling
Adjective
  • Valadao, a Republican from Hanford, has won the seat in six of the last seven elections despite the district’s slight Democratic tilt.
    — Mathew Miranda, Sacbee.com, 7 Oct. 2026
  • In their paper from September, Minzer and his colleagues proved a slight variant of Khot’s second conjecture that has nearly the same consequences.
    — Quanta Magazine, Quanta Magazine, 7 Oct. 2026
Definition of slight
Adjective
  • Stanley’s co-defendant, unsuccessful county commissioner candidate and Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools bus driver Heather Morrow, was found guilty of the petty offenses and the misdemeanor assault charge.
    — Julia Coin, Charlotte Observer, 7 Oct. 2026
  • Letts makes the most of his brief screen time as a manipulator whose petty genius lies in creating an artificial scarcity for his affections.
    — Inkoo Kang, New Yorker, 1 Oct. 2026
Definition of petty
Adjective
  • Crowdsourcing the follow-up work — developing gene therapies or treatments — might prove beyond the scope of this tiny community.
    — Deepa Fernandes, STAT, 8 Oct. 2026
  • Radioactive beta particles strike the fibers and trigger tiny pulses of light.
    — Aman Tripathi, Interesting Engineering, 7 Oct. 2026
Definition of tiny
Adjective
  • Some people even enjoy minute quantities as a recreational drug.
    — Mattha Busby, Rolling Stone, 19 Aug. 2026
  • There are so many models out there from so many manufacturers, with minute differences between them.
    — K. Thor Jensen, PC Magazine, 25 June 2026
Definition of minute
Adjective
  • Cut to terra ferma, where the almighty rainstorm soaking the streets of Rome seems a comparatively trifling bit of weather.
    — Guy Lodge, Variety, 7 Sep. 2026
  • In less trifling hands, there’s no telling what these tools could do, are doing now.
    — CHRIS COLIN, Wired News, 18 May 2026
Definition of trifling
Adjective
  • But little progress has been made towards implementing a deal to end the conflict, which includes terms for Hamas to disarm and Israel to withdraw its troops.
    — Arkansas Online, Arkansas Online, 4 Oct. 2026
  • The Salem witch trials of 1692 carved out an enduring and powerful niche in American history for this little town, and this intimate, kitschy museum does an excellent job telling the story.
    — Condé Nast, Condé Nast Traveler, 4 Oct. 2026
Definition of little
Adjective
  • That’s the same reason as why knots in dimension three become trivial or all the same in dimension four.
    — Quanta Magazine, Quanta Magazine, 1 Oct. 2026
  • The agent is better, but the value gained is trivial against what the agent costs.
    — Manu Khetan, Forbes.com, 1 Oct. 2026
Definition of trivial
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
Definition of piddling
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.

Browse Nearby Words

pettifoggers
pettifogging
pettiness
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Cite this Entry

“Pettifogging.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/pettifogging. Accessed 10 Oct. 2026.

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