petty
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈpɛt.i/
ipa: /ˈpɛt.i/
ipa: [ˈpʰɛɾ.i]
ipa: /ˈpet.i/
homophone: Petty
homophone: pedi (GA)
rhymes: -ɛti
Forms: form: pettier
form: more petty
form: pettiest
form: most petty
Etymology: The adjective is derived from Middle English peti, pety (“little, small; minor”) [and other forms], from Anglo-Norman petit, Middle French petit, and Old French peti, petit, pitet (“young; little, small; inferior; insignificant”) (modern French petit), ultimately of imitative origin. It is no longer thought that the word is derived from Celtic. Doublet of petit and petite.
The noun is derived from the adjective.
Senses: examples: text: a petty fault    petty squabbles
text: Your minde is toſſing on the Ocean, / There vvhere your Argoſies vvith portly ſayle, / Like Signiors and rich Burgars on the flood, / Or as it vvere the Pageants of the ſea, / Doe ouer-peere the petty traffiquers / That curſie to them, do them reuerence / As they flie by them vvith their vvouen vvings.
ref: c. 1596–1598 (date written), W[illiam] Shakespeare, The Excellent History of the Merchant of Venice. […] (First Quarto), [London]: […] J[ames] Roberts [for Thomas Heyes], published 1600, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i]:
text: I could have liv'd like Hengiſt, King of Kent, / London, York, Lincoln, and VVincheſter, / Under the povver of my Command, the portion / Of my moſt juſt deſert, enjoyed novv / By pettier Deſervers.
ref: c. 1615–1620 (date written), Tho[mas] Middleton, The Mayor of Quinborough: A Comedy. […] [Hengist, King of Kent], London: […] Henry Herringman, […], published 1661, →OCLC, Act V, scene ii, page 72:
english: Hengist, King of Kent
translation: Hengist, King of Kent
text: His birth, perhaps, ſome petty Village hides, / And ſets his Cradle out of Fortune's way: […]
ref: 1667, John Dryden, Annus Mirabilis: The Year of Wonders, 1666. […], London: […] Henry Herringman, […], →OCLC, stanza 213, page 54:
text: Yea, he did hold me to it at that rate alſo, about a great many more things than here I relate; as, that it was a ſhame to ſit vvhining and mourning under a Sermon, and a ſhame to come ſighing and groaning home. That it was a ſhame to ask my Neighbour forgiveneſs for petty faults, or to make restitution vvhere I have taken from any: […]
ref: 1678, John Bunyan, The Pilgrim’s Progress from This World, to That which is to Come: […], London: […] Nath[aniel] Ponder […], →OCLC, page 96:
text: [H]is VVords vvere ranged vvith more care and leſs confidence than before, and in all his Actions he eſſay'd to beſpeak me an opinion, that the VVorld could not offer him an employment vvhich vvas not leſs important and conſiderable in his thoughts, than the pettieſt occaſion to ſerve and pleaſe me.
ref: 1736, [Gauthier de Costes, seigneur de la Calprenède], “Part III. Book III.”, in Robert Loveday, transl., Hymen’s Præludia: Or, Love’s Master-piece: Being that So-much-admir’d Romance, Intitled, Cleopatra. […], volume II, London: […] J. Watson, […], →OCLC, page 282:
text: I show thee what thy predecessors are, / And what they were thou feelest, in degree / Inferior as thy petty feelings and / Thy pettier portion of the immortal part / Of high intelligence and earthly strength.
ref: 1821, Lord Byron, “Cain, a Mystery”, in Sardanapalus, a Tragedy; The Two Foscari, a Tragedy; Cain, a Mystery, London: John Murray, […], →OCLC, Act II, scene ii, page 390:
text: Who would rot on the moor-side forgotten, / Slaughtered bickering for some petty town, / While the rich East blooms fragrant before us, / And all fairy land beckons us on?
ref: 1848, Charles Kingsley, Junior, The Saint’s Tragedy; or, The True Story of Elizabeth of Hungary, […], London: John W[illiam] Parker, […], →OCLC, Act II, scene xi, page 138:
text: The pettiest creature in Heaven will be the most noble of Earth, and the most noble of Earth the pettiest in Heaven.
ref: 1996, Jonathan Herman, “The Text Translation: ‘Talks and Parables of Chuang Tzu’. [XVIII. The Death Song.]”, in I and Tao: Martin Buber’s Encounter with Chuang Tzu, Albany, N.Y.: State University of New York Press, →ISBN, page 36:
text: Later today in Finsbury Park, the cameras would spend hours panning across 35,000 festivalgoers in search of pickpockets, drunken brawlers, and other assorted agents of petty mischief.
ref: 2018 February, Robert Draper, “They are Watching You—and Everything Else on the Planet: Technology and Our Increasing Demand for Security have Put Us All under Surveillance. Is Privacy Becoming just a Memory?”, in National Geographic, Washington, D.C.: National Geographic Society, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 14 Jun 2018:
synonyms: word: base
word: contemptible
word: foolish
word: for the birds
word: futile
word: frivolous
word: idle
word: ignorable
word: immaterial
word: inconsequential
word: inconsiderable
word: indifferent
word: insignificant
word: like a fart in a windstorm
word: meager
word: mean
word: minor
word: negligible
word: nothingburger
word: nondescript
word: paltry
word: petty
word: picayune
word: picayunish
word: piddling
word: piddly
word: pissant
word: pitiful
word: pointless
word: silly
word: simple
word: slight
word: tin-pot
word: trifling
word: trivial
word: two-bit
word: unimportant
word: unweighty
word: vain
word: worthless
word: wretched
antonyms: word: unimportant
word: ignorable
word: inconsequential
word: insignificant
word: minor
word: negligible
word: trivial
word: unremarkable
glosses: Having little or no importance.
examples: text: Such literature may well be anathema to those who are too docile and petty for their own good.
text: That corporation is only slightly pettier than they are greedy, and they are overdue to reap the consequences.
text: [C]ommonly, it is leſſe diſhonourable, to abridge pettie Charges, then to ſtoope to pettie Gettings.
ref: 1625, Francis [Bacon], “Of Expence”, in The Essayes […], 3rd edition, London: […] Iohn Haviland for Hanna Barret, →OCLC, page 166:
text: I will give you the slightest, pettiest instance of the hindrance which the pettiest official can make out here, if so minded. […] [T]he Senior Purveyor at Balaclava refuses to cash my Cheques, for no other reason discoverable than the love of petty annoyance & the hope of injuring my credit, in the minds of ignorant servants.
ref: 1856 March 6, Florence Nightingale, “The ‘Confidential Report’ [Letter to Uncle Sam Smith]”, in Sue M. Goldie, editor, Florence Nightingale: Letters from the Crimea 1854–1856, Manchester; New York, N.Y.: Mandolin, Manchester University Press, published 1997, →ISBN, page 225:
text: He began to walk up and down the room, and she grew more and more vexed at his dignified behaviour. She had counted on his being petty. It would have made things easier for her. By a cruel irony she was drawing but all that was finest in his disposition.
ref: 1908, E[dward] M[organ] Forster, “Lying to Cecil”, in A Room with a View, London: Edward Arnold, →OCLC, part II, page 264:
text: But while in the beginning those political criteria [in Italian railway construction] were grandiose and national, just and even necessary, later they were to become pettier and pettier, to the point that they were almost always more regional than rational.
ref: 2013, Tim Parks, “Verona–Milano”, in Italian Ways: On and Off the Rails from Milan to Palermo, London: Harvill Secker, →ISBN, page 87:
text: Their conversations had become more fearful, even superstitious in the past month. They called her a ghost, or a demon, or a monster. She once found one of them crying in the graveyard after midnight, praying in Latin, begging forgiveness, and she gave it to him after putting the scissor blade through his aorta. She didn't see any point in being petty. They were all going to die, and that would settle their accounts with her.
ref: 2023 October 12, HarryBlank, “Fire in the Hole”, in SCP Foundation, archived from the original on 22 May 2024:
synonyms: grudgeful
grudging
antonyms: broad-minded
glosses: Of persons or their behaviour: marked by or reflective of undesirably limited interests, sympathies, or views; begrudging, selfish, small-minded; also, preoccupied with subjects having little or no importance and not mindful of broader concerns.
examples: text: My cousin is so petty—I forgot his birthday and he's been making snarky comments all week.
text: All of the horrors that happen in the book are based on real incidents, including the burning of her father's books in their front yard. "It was just a very petty, ugly thing to do, to say 'Fuck you' to academics and intellectuals," she says. " I can't imagine losing my books, the books I love."
ref: 2020 November 14, Lisa Allardice, “Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie: 'America under Trump felt like a personal loss'”, in Katharine Viner, editor, The Guardian, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 29 May 2023:
text: Your manager is just being petty. Ignore her silly provocations.
ref: 2021 April 2, Roxane Gay, “Sorry, Sometimes You Do Have to Be Uncomfortable”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 30 Mar 2023:
synonyms: word: avengeful
word: pluckcrow
word: revengeful
word: vengeable
word: vengeful
word: vengesome
word: vindical
word: vindictive
word: wreakful
glosses: Inclined to cause frustration or annoyance to others out of spite over minor grievances; extremely vindictive.
examples: text: Friends are separated for long portions of time even while they live; at last they take their leave for ever: although, I remember, when you left me in the petty form at Westminster, I soon afterwards found you in a higher remove: and this world is only the petty form of the universe; so I not only expect to pass a social hour with you here, but am in hopes of a merry meeting in a better place; […]
ref: 1756 June 13, J[ames] M[urphy] French, “[Letters, Correspondence, and Poetry, of James Murphy French.] To Henry Duncombe, Esq.”, in Jesse Foot, The Life of Arthur Murphy, Esq., London: […] [F]or J. Faulder, […]; by John Nichols and Son, […], published 1811, →OCLC, page 123:
text: This finishes their education in the under school, in which they have now been three years and a half, and they are next moved into the upper, and probably at the age of ten or eleven; six or seven being the age at which boys are generally sent into the petty form.
ref: 1813, M[ichael] Russel, “[Appendix.] No. II. On Westminster School.”, in View of the System of Education at Present Pursued in the Schools and Universities of Scotland. […], Edinburgh: […] John Moir, […], sold by Bell & Bradfute, […], →OCLC, page xx:
text: [T]he feoffees should cause the boys to be put to some petty school to learn to read English till they attain 13, and to instruct them in some part of God's true religion.
ref: 1819 July 5, “Fulham. [The Latymer, or Boys Charity School, at Hammersmith.]”, in Second Report of the Commissioners Appointed in Pursuance of an Act of the 58th Year of His Present Majesty, Cap. 91. Intituled An Act for Appointing Commissioners to Enquire Concerning Charities in England, for the Education of the Poor (House of Lords, the Sessional Papers 1801–1833; 100, part II), [London]: [House of Commons of the United Kingdom], →OCLC, page 86:
text: [B]y the assistance of that truly Christian gentlewoman, the Lady Elizabeth Hastings, he increased the number of petty schools throughout the island.
ref: 1846, William Henry Teale, “The Life of Thomas Wilson, D.D., Bishop of Sodor and Man”, in Lives of English Divines; […], London: James Burns, […], →OCLC, pages 305–306:
text: [O]riginally there were six forms in the school; of these the highest was called the Sixth. Afterwards, the number of forms was increased to eight; the highest was still called the Sixth, but the Fourth form was divided into two, the Fourth and the Fourth Division, and the First into two also, the First and the Petty or Anonymous form. […] Some alterations were made, then or soon after, lower down in the school. The Fifth form was subdivided into the upper and lower Fifth; the Division into the upper and lower Division; and the Petty form was abolished.
ref: 1862 June 28, James Augustus Hessey (witness), “Minutes of Evidence. Merchant Taylors’.”, in Report of Her Majesty’s Commissioners Appointed to Inquire into the Revenues and Management of Certain Colleges and Schools, and the Studies Pursued and Instruction Given therein; […], volume VI (Evidence, Part 2), London: […] George Edward Eyre and William Spottiswoode, […] [f]or Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, published 1864, →OCLC, paragraph 346, page 126, column 1:
glosses: Of or relating to the lowest grade or level of school; junior, primary.
examples: text: To morrow, and to morrow, and to morrow, / Creepes in this petty pace from day to day, / To the laſt Syllable of Recorded time: / And all our yeſterdayes, haue lighted Fooles / The way to duſty death.
ref: c. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene v], page 150, column 1:
qualifier: obsolete except in set phrases
synonyms: word: compact
word: fun size
word: fun-sized
word: ickle
word: insignificant
word: lit'l
word: little
word: low
word: modest
word: mini
word: petty
word: pint-sized
word: pocket-size
word: slim
word: slight
word: small
word: small-scale
word: undersized
word: wee
word: wurly
antonyms: word: small
word: tiny
glosses: Little or small in size.
examples: text: petty cash    petty officer
text: 3. Out[law]. […] My ſelfe vvas from Verona baniſhed, / For practiſing to ſteale avvay a Lady, / And heire and Neece, alide vnto the Duke. / […] / 1. Out[law]. And I, for ſuch like petty crimes as theſe.
ref: c. 1590–1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Two Gentlemen of Verona”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene i], page 32, column 2:
text: With his [Robert Brown's] assistant, Richard Harrison, a petty pedagogue, they inveighed against bishops, ecclesiastical courts, ceremonies, ordination of ministers, and what not; fancying here on earth a platform of a perfect church, without any faults (understand it thus, save those that are made by themselves) therein.
ref: 1655, Thomas Fuller, “Section IV. To the Master, Wardens, and All the Members of the Honourable Company of Mercers, of London.”, in The Church-history of Britain; […], London: […] Iohn Williams […], →OCLC, (please specify |book=I to XI), subsection 3–7 (Brown’s Opinions. […]), page 64:
text: Fearleſs of danger, like a petty God / I walk'd about admir'd of all and dreaded / On hoſtile ground, none daring my affront.
ref: 1671, John Milton, “Samson Agonistes, […].”, in Paradise Regain’d. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is Added, Samson Agonistes, London: […] J[ohn] M[acock] for John Starkey […], →OCLC, page 37, lines 530–532:
text: At the time the poem we are now treating of was written, the dissensions of the barons, who were then so many petty princes, ran very high, whether they quarrelled among themselves, or with their neighbours, and produced unspeakable calamities to the country.
ref: 1711 June 1 (Gregorian calendar), [Joseph Addison], “MONDAY, May 21, 1711”, in The Spectator, number 70; republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a New Edition, […], volume I, New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton & Company, 1853, →OCLC, page 425:
text: Can there an Example be given in the whole Courſe of this War, where we have treated the pettieſt Prince, with whom we had to deal, in ſo contemptuous a manner?
ref: 1711 December 8 (Gregorian calendar), [Jonathan Swift], The Conduct of the Allies, and of the Late Ministry, in Beginning and Carrying on the Present War, 4th edition, London: […] John Morphew […], published 1711, →OCLC, page 53:
text: Under moderate governments, the law is prudent in all its parts, perfectly well known, and the pettieſt magiſtrates are capable of following it. But in a deſpotic ſtate where the prince's will is the law, though the prince were wiſe, yet how could the magiſtrate follow a will he does not know?
ref: 1750, [Charles-Louis] de Secondat, Baron [de La Brède et] de Montesquieu, “Of the Communication of Power”, in Thomas Nugent, transl., The Spirit of Laws. […], volume I, London: […] J[ohn] Nourse, and P. Vaillant, […], →OCLC, book V (That the Laws Given by the Legislature Ought to be Relative to the Nature of Government), page 94:
text: Fear, pity, juſtice, indignation ſtart, / Tear off reſerve, and bare my ſwelling heart; / 'Till half a patriot, half a coward grown, / I fly from petty tyrants to the throne.
ref: 1764 December 19 (indicated as 1765), Oliver Goldsmith, The Traveller, or A Prospect of Society. A Poem. […], London: […] J[ohn] Newbery, […], →OCLC, pages 19–20:
text: [I]n treſpaſs all are principals, becauſe the law, quae de minimis non curat, does not deſcend to diſtinguiſh the different ſhades of guilt in petty miſdemeſnors. It is a maxim, that acceſſorius ſequitur naturam ſui principalis: and therefore an acceſſory cannot be guilty of a higher crime than his principal; being only puniſhed, as a partaker of his guilt. So that if a ſervant inſtigates a ſtranger to kill his maſter, this being murder in the ſtranger as principal, of courſe the ſervant is acceſſory only to the crime of murder; though, had he been preſent and aſſiſting, he would have been guilty as principal of petty treaſon, and the ſtranger of murder.
ref: 1769, William Blackstone, “Of Principals and Accessories”, in Commentaries on the Laws of England, book IV (Of Public Wrongs), Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] Clarendon Press, →OCLC, page 36:
text: The ire of the monarch was not to be appeased. He had suffered in his person, and he had suffered in his purse; his dignity too had been insulted, and that went for something; for dignity is always more irascible the more petty the potentate.
ref: 1824, Geoffrey Crayon [pseudonym; Washington Irving], “Buckthorne, or The Young Man of Great Expectations”, in Tales of a Traveller, part 2 (Buckthorne and His Friends), Philadelphia, Pa.: H[enry] C[harles] Carey & I[saac] Lea, […], →OCLC, pages 116–117:
qualifier: obsolete except in set phrases
antonyms: grand
high
glosses: Secondary in importance or rank; minor, subordinate.
Derived terms: petticoat
petties
pettifog
pettifogger
pettifoggery
pettily
pettiness
pettitoes
petty apartheid
petty average
petty bag
petty bourgeoisie
petty cash
pettychaps
petty crime
petty criminal
Petty France
petty-house
petty jury
petty king
petty knife
petty larceny
petty morel
petty officer
petty session
petty spurge
petty theft
petty treason
pettywhin
petty whin
unpetty
Related terms: quibble