paltry
/ˈpɒltɹi/US/ˈpɔltɹi/
paltry adjective: trashy, trivial, of little value.
Adjective
paltry (comparative paltrier, superlative paltriest)
- Trashy, trivial, of little value.
- This is indeed a paltry flyer about a silly product.
- She made some paltry excuse and left.
- Synonyms:
- insignificant, unimportant, petty, trivial, beggarly
- Of little monetary worth.
- Could someone hope to survive on such a paltry income?
- Student grants these days are paltry, and many students have to take out loans.
- Despicable; contemptibly unimportant.
- a paltry coward
- "An aged man is but a paltry thing, / A tattered coat upon a stick"1928, William Butler Yeats, Sailing to Byzantium
paltry meaning in Tamil, Urdu, Bengali and Malayalam
paltry in Tamil
- அற்பமான, இழிந்த, சிறு திறமான, சிறுதிறமான, பயனற்ற
paltry in Urdu
- چھوٹا, گندا, خسیس
paltry in Bengali
- অত্যন্ত নগণ্য, তুচ্ছ, পরিমাণে খুব কম
paltry in Malayalam
- അധമമായ, നിസ്സാരമായ, ഹീനമായ, ക്ഷുദ്രമായ
More languagesFewer languages
- paltry in Kannada
- ನಿಕೃಷ್ಟ, ನಗಣ್ಯ, ಅಲ್ಪ, ಯಃಕಶ್ಚಿತ್
- paltry in Arabic
- بَخْس baḵs
Examples of paltry in a sentence
- There are a great many languages, like Eskimo and Nootka and, aside from paltry exceptions, the Semitic languages, that cannot compound radical elements.1921, Edward Sapir, Language: An introduction to the study of speech:
- Meanwhile, the trade deal has left Britain’s fishing communities screaming betrayal, unhappy with their paltry gains and facing expensive barriers to export what they have caught.2022 July 8, Daniel Boffey, “Collapsing public support suggests Brexit is anything but done”, in The Guardian:
Synonyms of paltry
Forms of paltry
| comparative | paltrier |
|---|---|
| superlative | paltriest |
| alternative form (obsolete) | paultry |
| alternative form (obsolete) | paultrie |
| alternative form (obsolete) | palterey |
Origin of paltry
From Middle Low German paltrig (“ragged, rubbishy, worthless”), from palter, palte (“cloth, rag, shred”), from Old Saxon *paltro, *palto (“cloth, rag”), from Proto-Germanic *paltrô, *paltô (“scrap, rag, patch”). Of uncertain ultimate origin, but perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *polto- (“cloth”), see also Proto-Slavic *poltьno (“linen”). Cognate with Low German palterig (“ragged, torn”), dialectal German palterig (“paltry”). Compare also Low German palte (“rag”), West Frisian palt (“rag”), Saterland Frisian Palte (“strip; band; tape”), dialectal German Palter (“rag”), Danish pjalt (“rag, tatter”), Swedish palta (“rag”). See also palterly and pelting.
Words formed from paltry
Questions about paltry
- What does paltry mean?
- Paltry means trashy, trivial, of little value.
- What is paltry in Tamil?
- Paltry in Tamil is அற்பமான, இழிந்த, சிறு திறமான. See Paltry meaning in Tamil.
- How do you use paltry in a sentence?
- There are a great many languages, like Eskimo and Nootka and, aside from paltry exceptions, the Semitic languages, that cannot compound radical elements.
- What part of speech is paltry?
- Paltry is an adjective.
- How do you pronounce paltry?
- Paltry is pronounced /ˈpɒltɹi/ (UK).
Words near paltry in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: paltry (page history and authors); paltry (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); paltry (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); paltry (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); paltry (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); paltry (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-I learned some phrases-paltry.wav.
Cite this entry: “paltry.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/paltry. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.