DICT.TW Dictionary Taiwan
Pet·ty a. [Compar. Pettier superl. Pettiest.] Little; trifling; inconsiderable; unimportant; also, inferior; subordinate; as, a petty fault; petty complaints; a petty prince.
Like a petty god
I walked about, admired of all. --Milton.
Petty averages. See under Average.
Petty cash, money expended or received in small items or amounts.
Petty officer, a subofficer in the navy, as a gunner, etc., corresponding to a noncommissionned officer in the army.
Note: ☞ For petty constable, petty jury, petty larceny, petty treason, See Petit.
Syn: -- Little; diminutive; inconsiderable; inferior; trifling; trivial; unimportant; frivolous.
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petty
adj 1: inferior in rank or status; "the junior faculty"; "a lowly
corporal"; "petty officialdom"; "a subordinate
functionary" [syn: junior-grade, inferior, lower,
lower-ranking, lowly, petty(a), secondary, subaltern,
subordinate]
2: (informal terms) 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"; "Mickey Mouse
regulations"; "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" [syn: fiddling, footling,
lilliputian, little, Mickey Mouse, niggling, piddling,
piffling, picayune, trivial]
3: contemptibly narrow in outlook; "petty little comments";
"disgusted with their small-minded pettiness" [syn: small-minded]
[also: pettiest, pettier]