puny
Syllables: pu·ny/ˈpjuːni/US/ˈpjuni/
puny adjective: of inferior significance, size, or strength; ineffective, small, weak.
Adjective
puny (comparative punier, superlative puniest)
- Of inferior significance, size, or strength; ineffective, small, weak.
- You puny earthlings are no match for Ming the Merciless!
- a puny attempt at an apology
- (Frequently) ill; poorly, sickly.
- Inferior in rank; specifically, of a judge: junior.
- Gadsbodkins, you puny Upſtart in the Law, to uſe me ſo, you Green Bag Carrier, you Murderer of unfortunate Cauſes, the Clerks Ink is ſcarce off of your fingers, you that newly come from Lamblacking the Judges ſhooes, and are not fit to wipe mine; […]1676 December 11 (first performance), [William] Wycherley, The Plain-Dealer. A Comedy. […], London: […] T[homas] N[ewcomb] for James Magnes and Rich[ard] Bentley […], published 1677, →OCLC, Act III...
- WHEN John firſt brought out the Bills, the Surprize of all the Family was unexpreſſible, at the prodigious Dimenſions of them; […] Fees to Judges, puny Judges, Clerks, Prothonotories, Philizers, Chirographers, Underclerks, Proclamators, Counſel, Witneſſes, Jury-men, Marſhals, Tipſtaffs, Cryers...1712, Humphry Polesworth [pseudonym; John Arbuthnot], “How John Look’d Over His Attorney’s Bill”, in Law is a Bottomless-Pit. […], London: […] John Morphew, […], →OCLC, page 20
- Coming later in time; secondary, subsequent.
- Not experienced; novice.
Noun
puny (plural punies)
- An inferior person; a subordinate; also, an insignificant person.
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- Synonyms:
- inferior, junior, puisne, underling, vassal, absolute zero, also-ran, chopped liver, cipher, crumb
- Antonyms:
- superior, baron, big cheese, big enchilada, big gun, big kahuna, big man, big name, big noise, big shot
- A younger person; a junior.
- [A] law that the eldeſt or firſt-borne child ſhall ſucceede and inherite all: where nothing is reſerved for punies, but obedience: […] Theſe vaine ſhadowes of our religion, which are ſeene in ſome of theſe examples, witnes the dignitie and divinity thereof.1603, Michel de Montaigne, “An Apologie of Raymond Sebond”, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book II, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC, pages 333–334
- For a worthy man is wounded more deeply by his own Generalls neglect, then by his enemies ſword: […] Who had rather others ſhould make a ladder of his dead corps to ſcale a city by it, then a bridge of him whileſt alive for his punies to give him the Goe-by, and paſſe over him to preferment.1642, Thomas Fuller, “The Good Generall”, in The Holy State, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: […] Roger Daniel for John Williams, […], →OCLC, book IV, paragraph 5, page 328
- A person who is not experienced; a beginner, a novice.
- Nay then I ſee thou'rt but a puny in the ſubtill Miſtery of a woman: […]1607, attributed to Thomas Middleton or Cyril Tourneur, The Revengers Tragædie. […], London: […] G[eorge] Eld, […], →OCLC, Act I
- Synonyms:
- newb, rookie, tenderfoot, abecedarian, alphabetarian, apprentice, amateur, beginner, bun, colt
- A puisne or junior judge.
- A new student at a school, university, the Inns of Court, etc.; a junior.
- [T]he whole companye or most parte of the Studentꝭ [Studentis] of the same house mette toogether to beginne their Christmas, of wᶜʰ som̃e came to see sports […] others to make sporte wᵗʰall of this last sorte were they whome they call Fresh-menn Punies of the first yeare, who are by no meanes...c. 1610, “[The Election of the Prince]”, in Frederick S[amuel] Boas, editor, The Christmas Prince (The Malone Society Reprints; 47b), London: Printed for the Malone Society by Frederick Hall M.A. at...
puny meaning in Urdu, Bengali, Malayalam and Kannada
puny in Urdu
- بونا, کمزور
puny in Bengali
- ক্ষুদ্র ও দুর্বল
puny in Malayalam
- പിഞ്ചായ, മൂപ്പെത്താത്ത, ചെറിയ, ബലഹീനമായ
puny in Kannada
- ಗಿಡ್ಡ, ಗುಜ್ಜ, ಕುಬ್ಜ, ಕಸುವಿಲ್ಲದ, ಗುಜ್ಜು, ಗುಂಜು
Examples of puny in a sentence
- I had forgot my ſelfe, am I not King? […] Is not the Kings name twenty thouſand names? / Arme arme, my name a puny ſubiect ſtrikes, / At thy great glorie, […]1595 December 9 (first known performance), [William Shakespeare], The Tragedie of King Richard the Second. […] (First Quarto), London: […]...
- [W]e dart / O'er wave or field: yet breezes laugh to scorn // Our puny speed, […]1827, [John Keble], “Twenty-third Sunday after Trinity”, in The Christian Year: Thoughts in Verse for the Sundays and Holydays throughout...
- But if you think this Trade to baſe, / (Which ſeldom is the Dunce's Caſe) / Put on the Critick's Brow, and ſit / At Wills the puny Judge of Wit.1733, [Jonathan Swift], On Poetry: A Rapsody, Dublin; London: […] [R. Fleming] [a]nd sold by J. Huggonson, […], →OCLC, page 15, lines...
- Many thought that he had altogether cut his own throat, and that he would have to take the first "puny" judgeship vacant.1871 (date written), Anthony Trollope, “Daniel Thwaite receives his Money”, in Lady Anna. […], volume II, London: Chapman and Hall, […]...
Synonyms of puny
30 more synonymsFewer synonyms
Antonyms
10 more antonymsFewer antonyms
Forms of puny
| Adjective | |
|---|---|
| comparative | punier |
| superlative | puniest |
| Noun | |
| plural | punies |
Origin of puny
PIE word *pós A respelling of puisne, from Anglo-Norman puisné (“later, more recent; junior; weakly”) [and other forms] and Middle French puisné (“born after (a specified person); younger, youngest; one who is born after (a specified person)”) (modern French puîné (“cadet (born after a sibling); a cadet (someone born after a sibling)”)), from puis (“after; since”) + né (“born”). Puis is derived from Old French pois (“after; since”), from Vulgar Latin *postius (“afterward”), from Latin posteā (“afterwards; hereafter; thereafter; next, then”), from post (“after; since”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *pós (“afterwards”)) + ea (“these (things)”); and né from Latin nātus (“born”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ǵenh₁- (“to beget; to give birth; to produce”).
Words formed from puny
Words that rhyme with puny
1 more rhymesFewer rhymes
Questions about puny
- What does puny mean?
- Puny means of inferior significance, size, or strength; ineffective, small, weak.
- What is puny in Urdu?
- Puny in Urdu is بونا, کمزور. See Puny meaning in Urdu.
- How do you use puny in a sentence?
- I had forgot my ſelfe, am I not King? […] Is not the Kings name twenty thouſand names? / Arme arme, my name a puny ſubiect ſtrikes, / At thy great glorie, […]
- What part of speech is puny?
- Puny can be an adjective or a noun.
- How do you pronounce puny?
- Puny is pronounced /ˈpjuːni/ (UK).
Words near puny in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: puny (page history and authors); puny (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); puny (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); puny (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); puny (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-puny.wav.
Cite this entry: “puny.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/puny. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.