as in slight
old-fashioned
worrying too much about details that are minor or not important
pettifogging lawyers
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Examples Sentences
Recent Examples of Synonyms for pettifogging
Adjective
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That slight warming trend is expected to continue Friday, when high temperatures reach the upper 30s, with lows in the upper teens.—
Matt Hubbard, Baltimore Sun, 19 Jan. 2025
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The snow started falling Sunday afternoon, with a slight mix of hail.—
Adjective
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But the smoke is still rising, and petty partisanship is a distraction and disservice at the moment, given all that’s been lost, and all the hard work of moving forward.—
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In an era of steadily declining trust in media, the dry formalities of a legal template provide not only an imprimatur of institutional credibility, but also the freedom to go into extreme amounts of detail without seeming petty, tedious or self-indulgent.—
Adjective
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For what’s known as PM2.5 pollution, or tiny inhalable particles of smoke and dust, a PurpleAir sensor located south of Los Angeles International Airport simultaneously returned on Monday an air quality index of 28 on AirNow’s website, 20 on WatchDuty, and 5 on PurpleAir’s official page.—
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Despite their immense size, these gentle giants are filter feeders, primarily consuming plankton, small fish, and other tiny organisms by swimming with their mouths open to filter food from the water.—
Adjective
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Moreover, the judges noted, forbidding the use of chemicals that carry a minute risk of cancer might prompt manufacturers to use compounds that are more toxic, albeit in noncancerous ways.—
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Despite the passage of time, the first coordinator of the state’s investigation into the Rhoden deaths can recall minute details of the crimes without notes.—
Adjective
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And yet the movie’s insularity feels trifling and empty.—
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The cost to find these answers, even in the near term, is relatively trifling.—
Adjective
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Out of a trivial tension, an intimate and unsettling face-to-face confrontation suddenly arises.—
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Meanwhile, a small (but not trivial) minority of Republican spending hawks has been complaining that current levels of military spending are too high.—
Adjective
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His production was especially encouraging given how little UCLA has gotten from its two big men, prompting Cronin to play him a season-high 27 minutes.—
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Lots of style, sure, but ultimately, and perhaps ironically, very little substance.—
Adjective
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Then, the pandemic reduced the schedule to 60 games and Eddie got a piddling 37%.—
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Millions of additional claims are expected to stream in from around the country over the coming weeks, while hiring remains piddling.—
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Thesaurus Entries Near pettifogging
Cite this Entry
“Pettifogging.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/pettifogging. Accessed 26 Jan. 2025.
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