petty

Adjective

petty (comparative pettier or more petty, superlative pettiest or most petty)

1. (derogatory, often) Having little or no importance.
   • a petty fault petty squabbles
   • Your minde is toſſing on the Ocean, / There vvhere your Argoſies vvith portly ſayle, / Like Signiors and rich Burgars on the flood, / Or as it vvere the Pageants of the ſea, / Doe ouer-peere the petty traffiquers / That curſie to them, do them reuerence / As they flie by them vvith their vvouen...c. 1596–1598 (date written), W[illiam] Shakespeare, The Excellent History of the Merchant of Venice. […] (First Quarto), [London]: […] J[ames] Roberts [for Thomas Heyes], published 1600, →OCLC, [Act...

   Synonyms:

   base, contemptible, floccinaucinihilipilificatious, foolish, for the birds, futile, frivolous, idle, ignorable, immaterial

   Antonyms:

   big, central, consequential, critical, crucial, epochful, essential, extraordinary, fateful, fatefraught

2. (derogatory, often) Of persons or their behaviour: marked by or reflective of undesirably limited interests, sympathies, or views; begrudging, selfish, small-minded; also, preoccupied with subjects having little or no importance and not mindful of broader concerns.
   • Such literature may well be anathema to those who are too docile and petty for their own good.
   • That corporation is only slightly pettier than they are greedy, and they are overdue to reap the consequences.

   Synonyms:

   grudgeful, grudging

   Antonyms:

   broad-minded

3. (derogatory, informal, often) Inclined to cause frustration or annoyance to others out of spite over minor grievances; extremely vindictive.
   • My cousin is so petty—I forgot his birthday and he's been making snarky comments all week.
   • All of the horrors that happen in the book are based on real incidents, including the burning of her father's books in their front yard. "It was just a very petty, ugly thing to do, to say 'Fuck you' to academics and intellectuals," she says. " I can't imagine losing my books, the books I love."2020 November 14, Lisa Allardice, “Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie: 'America under Trump felt like a personal loss'”, in Katharine Viner, editor, The Guardian, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC...

   Synonyms:

   avengeful, pluckcrow, revengeful, vengeable, vengeful, vengesome, vindical, vindictive, wreakful

4. (historical) Of or relating to the lowest grade or level of school; junior, primary.
   • Friends are separated for long portions of time even while they live; at last they take their leave for ever: although, I remember, when you left me in the petty form at Westminster, I soon afterwards found you in a higher remove: and this world is only the petty form of the universe; so I not only...1756 June 13, J[ames] M[urphy] French, “[Letters, Correspondence, and Poetry, of James Murphy French.] To Henry Duncombe, Esq.”, in Jesse Foot, The Life of Arthur Murphy, Esq., London: […] [F]or J....
   • This finishes their education in the under school, in which they have now been three years and a half, and they are next moved into the upper, and probably at the age of ten or eleven; six or seven being the age at which boys are generally sent into the petty form.1813, M[ichael] Russel, “[Appendix.] No. II. On Westminster School.”, in View of the System of Education at Present Pursued in the Schools and Universities of Scotland. […], Edinburgh: […] John Moir...
5. (obsolete except in set phrases) Little or small in size.
   • To morrow, and to morrow, and to morrow, / Creepes in this petty pace from day to day, / To the laſt Syllable of Recorded time: / And all our yeſterdayes, haue lighted Fooles / The way to duſty death.c. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount...

   Synonyms:

   compact, fun size, fun-sized, ickle, insignificant, lit'l, little, low, modest, mini

   Antonyms:

   ample, big, exceeding, cosmic, bodacious, broad, commodious, considerable, expansive, good-sized

6. (obsolete except in set phrases) Secondary in importance or rank; minor, subordinate.
   • petty cash petty officer
   • 3. Out[law]. […] My ſelfe vvas from Verona baniſhed, / For practiſing to ſteale avvay a Lady, / And heire and Neece, alide vnto the Duke. / […] / 1. Out[law]. And I, for ſuch like petty crimes as theſe.c. 1590–1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Two Gentlemen of Verona”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and...

   Antonyms:

   grand, high

Noun

petty (plural petties)

1. (dialectal, euphemistic, informal) An outbuilding used as a lavatory; an outhouse, a privy.
   • If these houses had been built by his Lordship every one would have had his petty, at all events dividing the odour & also having a chance that some of the occupiers would clean out—but a common occupation is nobody's business, unless the owner of all the buildings takes it in hand.1848 September 27, Maria Josepha Stanley, Baroness Stanley of Alderley, “[Letter 245]”, in Nancy Mitford, editor, The Ladies of Alderley: Being the Letters between Maria Josepha, Lady Stanley of...
   • Cottages occupied by Betty Hines and others; petty in a very filthy state, wants walling. Two petties belonging to Mr. James Parr to be walled, and one next Thomas Wilkinson's to be removed further off.1852, Robert Rawlinson, “Appendix”, in Report to the General Board of Health on a Preliminary Inquiry into the Sewerage, Drainage, and Supply of Water, and the Sanitary Condition of the Inhabitants...

   Synonyms:

   backhouse, backside, bog, boggard, boghouse, carsey, chamber foreign, common house, commons, Cousin John

2. (historical) A class or school for young schoolboys.
   • […] I took my seat in what was denominated, "The Idle Class", that is, at the very bottom of the school, where all those who have not received some previous instruction in Latin are placed. I however soon got out of that disgraceful and ignorant form, passed with rapidity and eclat the under and...1808–1810 (date written), William Hickey, “Early School Days”, in Alfred Spencer, editor, Memoirs of William Hickey, 7th edition, volumes I (1749–1775), London: Hurst & Blackett, […], published...
   • [S]uch a difference of age between lads at a public school puts intimacy out of the question—a junior ensign being no more familiar with the commander-in-chief at the Horse-Guards; or a barrister on his first circuit with my Lord Chief Justice on the bench, than the newly-breeched infant in the...1854, Arthur Pendennis [pseudonym; William Makepeace Thackeray], “In which the Author and the Hero Resume Their Acquaintance”, in The Newcomes: Memoirs of a Most Respectable Family, volume I, London...

   Synonyms:

   petty form, ABC, petty school

3. (also, figuratively, in plural, obsolete) A little schoolboy, either in grade or size.
   • [S]ome of them, which were the Petties and Punies of that ſchoole, whereof old Martin [Marprelate] was the maſter; though then he was but as ſome blinde and obſcure pariſh Clarke that taught in the Belfrie, not preſuming, as hee doth nowe, to preſſe into the Church, (that place in reſpect of the...1589, attributed to Thomas Nashe, “To the Discreet and Indifferent Reader”, in Martins Months Minde, that is, A Certaine Report, and True Description of the Death, and Funerals, of Olde Martin...
   • As the maiden therefore vvas comming into the market place, (for there vvere the ſchools for peties kept, of reading and vvriting) the Decemvirs man (a broker to ſerve his maſters luſt) laid hold upon her, avovving that ſhe vvas his bond-ſervants daughter, and therefore his bond-maid: commanding...1659, T[itus] Livius [i.e., Livy], “[Book III]”, in Philemon Holland, transl., The Romane Historie […], London: […] W. Hunt, for George Sawbridge, […], →OCLC, page 97

Proper noun capitalized: Petty

US/ˈpɛti/

Petty (plural Pettys)

1. A surname.