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Synonyms for pettiness


Grammar : Noun
Spell : pet-ee
Phonetic Transcription : ˈpɛt i



Définition of pettiness

Origin :
  • late 14c., "small," from phonemic spelling of Old French petit "small" (see petit). In English, not originally disparaging (cf. petty cash, 1834; petty officer, 1570s). Meaning "of small importance" is recorded from 1520s; that of "small-minded" is from 1580s. Related: Pettily; pettiness. An old name for "Northern Lights" was petty dancers.
  • noun extreme unimportance
Example sentences :
  • Nothing but our own pinchbeck ideas could ascribe to Him this pettiness.
  • Extract from : « The Conquest of Fear » by Basil King
  • Round me there is naught but weakness, hypocrisy, pettiness.
  • Extract from : « Secret Memoirs: The Story of Louise, Crown Princess » by Henry W. Fischer
  • I wish to be thought exclusive, yet I condemn the pettiness of my ambition.
  • Extract from : « Robert Orange » by John Oliver Hobbes
  • Then, indeed, was no restraint or pettiness; then men were hard and firm and strong.
  • Extract from : « The Hero » by William Somerset Maugham
  • And James was horrified at the pettiness and the prejudice which he found in his home.
  • Extract from : « The Hero » by William Somerset Maugham
  • She did not desire gardens, then, nor the pettiness of plump terraced hills.
  • Extract from : « Free Air » by Sinclair Lewis
  • Had his pettiness been merely external, that would not have mattered.
  • Extract from : « The Gentle Art of Cooking Wives » by Elizabeth Strong Worthington
  • I like a man to be strong, and Harcourt is strong—he has no pettiness in his nature.
  • Extract from : « Lover or Friend » by Rosa Nouchette Carey
  • Conceit, he rejoined, may be of an order so monstrous that it loses all pettiness.
  • Extract from : « Adrienne Toner » by Anne Douglas Sedgwick
  • For she is not hampered by narrowness of thought or by pettiness of spirit.
  • Extract from : « Woman under Monasticism » by Lina Eckenstein

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Based on : Thesaurus.com - Gutenberg.org - Dictionary.com - Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019