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