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petty English

Meaning petty meaning

What does petty mean?
Definitions in simple English

petty

If something is petty it is small or not important. That is only a petty crime. I took some petty cash for the purchase. He is only a petty officer, not a full officer. If someone is petty they are bothered by petty things. Why must you be so petty all the time. He was so petty he would throw a fit if one book was out of place.

petty

(= small-minded) contemptibly narrow in outlook petty little comments disgusted with their small-minded pettiness (= petit larceny) larceny of property having a value less than some amount (the amount varies by locale) (= lowly) inferior in rank or status the junior faculty a lowly corporal petty officialdom a subordinate functionary (= fiddling, footling, lilliputian, little, niggling, piffling, picayune) (informal) small and of little importance a fiddling sum of money a footling gesture our worries are lilliputian compared with those of countries that are at war a little (or small) matter a dispute over niggling details limited to petty enterprises piffling efforts giving a police officer a free meal may be against the law, but it seems to be a picayune infraction

Synonyms petty synonyms

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Topics petty topics

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Examples petty examples

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Simple sentences

In this harsh, petty world where money does the talking, his way of life is like a breath of fresh air.
We were involved in a petty argument.
Tom isn't petty.
Don't be so petty.
The god of the Old Testament is a blood-thirsty tyrant - petty and vengeful.
I don't think I'm very petty.
I don't think that I'm very petty.

Movie subtitles

NIALL FERGUSON: Around 500 years ago, a band of intrepid sailors and soldiers from the petty warring kingdoms of medieval Europe changed the world.
The impoverished, petty, strife-torn kingdoms of Western Europe embarked on five centuries of uninterrupted expansion.
We appreciate you getting us in, Petty Officer Snick.
Chief Petty Officer Snick, thank you very much.
Sorry, Petty Officer.
The petty officers.
You heard me, a petty larceny sneak thief.
Yes, we could repeat a lesson in in er. petty.
Will ye fight over your petty kingdoms here?
All you'll ever get out of it is a petty-larceny pension.
Yeah. Not even that petty-larceny pension you were talking about.
As I suspected, our man had been involved in petty crime in the past, a Spaniard named Mendosa.
I'm not a slave to petty conventions.
Don't worry, Petty Larceny, I'll make up the difference.
I have no wish to share in any petty conspiracy.
For debt, Your Excellency, and the prevaricator. if it's for debt, don't annoy me with such petty things.
I'm going to stay now, in spite of your petty jealousy.
You know, Miss Allenbury, this situation has outgrown a petty fight.
They're just petty and narrow-minded.
You're just petty crooks.
Small, petty and stupid.
Our robberies are petty compared to the wholesale plunder of the nation.
Look at Sydney's miniatures. - Sure sign of a petty mind.
Luigi Coreo, petty larceny, disorderly conduct, vagrancy.
You're a pickpocket, a petty thief.
That's fine. But while I'm proving my innocence. you people will uncover every petty kid trick I ever did.
Vagrancy, petty theft, resisting police breaking and entering and holdup.
They're no bunch of petty racketeers muscling in on some small territory.
I won't be insulted by some petty salesman.
I would have hated to die, shot by some petty crook.
Instead of this petty charge against him, you could get something big something that would chuck him in a concentration camp for years.
But this is what you are, conventional and petty.
If we drag every petty jewelry thief into this, we'll go crazy.
Some petty racket with gasoline or something. Just like a cop.
You petty brat.
But you were just as petty as my husband.
You're so right, that would be petty.
It was about some petty sum, I'd have reported her for the necklace.

News and current affairs

The coming months of campaigning for the US presidency will be spent in petty brawling over what should be cut.
Currently, the judiciary is incapable of trying a case of petty theft much less of ensuring human rights.
However, since these petty bureaucrats' power is almost absolute, they also control the channels for addressing grievances.
The poor get life sentences for petty crimes, while bankers who fleece the public of billions get invitations to White House state dinners.
With no need to concern themselves about elections, China's leaders can afford to plan for the longer term and do what is necessary without being impeded by petty selfish interests or a carping press.
Armenia may have adopted in 1995 a new Constitution with fine phrases about freedom of speech, but both the petty harassments and the mortal threats of the Soviet era remain.
Is this just petty politics, or does it really matter?
Far from being a religious fanatic, Merah grew up as a petty criminal with no interest in religion.
The coalition in power since 1996 is inefficient, lacks resolve, is riven by petty disputes, and is often on the point of falling apart.
Corrupt bosses put to shame petty government bureaucrats who steal a measly few thousand dollars -- even a few million.
In this area, too, Europe has taken the lead, especially concerning global warming, showing that petty selfishness can be put aside to achieve a common good.
This kind of legitimate and yet petty-minded thinking has serious international consequences.
This would require, of course, less cynical political elites who can transcend their petty ambitions and divisions for the sake of the country.
For starters, people tend to think of taxes as a loathsome infringement on their freedom, as if petty bureaucrats will inevitably squander the increased revenue on useless and ineffective government employees and programs.
Not surprisingly, defectors nowadays describe an environment of social breakdown, petty crime, and a Darwinian struggle for survival.
In the weeks leading up to the elections, it seemed that the public had grown weary of a prime minister who had been in office long enough to be corrupted by the arrogance of power and tainted by a raft of petty scandals.
The government should crack down on instances of high-level graft and use the new system of cash transfers to limit the scope of petty corruption.
A confluence of events is to blame, including the collapse of Russia's social safety net at the very moment when petty crime, and thus imprisonment, was reaching new heights.
Likewise, instead of providing a shining example of supranational cooperation and pooled sovereignty for the twenty-first century, the European Union remains mired in rather petty disputes.
In turn, the government encouraged the idea that ordinary citizens had legal rights as a way to ensure social stability, check petty corruption, and channel social grievances through a party-controlled mechanism.
But to the rest of the world, Chen has been revealed as a petty liar over a pitiful amount of money.

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