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petty

Pronunciation: /ˈpɛti/
Translate petty | into French | into German | into Italian | into Spanish
Definition of petty

adjective (pettier, pettiest)

  • 1of little importance; trivial:the petty divisions of party politics
  • unduly concerned with trivial matters, especially in a small-minded or spiteful way:she thought readers were being petty in writing to complain about blocked paths
  • 2 [attributive] of secondary or lesser importance, rank, or scale; minor:a petty official
  • Law (of a crime) of lesser importance:petty theftCompare with grand.

Derivatives

pettily

adverb

pettiness

noun

Origin:

late Middle English (in the sense 'small in size'): from a phonetic spelling of the pronunciation of French petit 'small'. Compare with petit

petty in other Oxford dictionaries

Definition of petty in the US English dictionary
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