pettifogging

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

The virtue of this concept is that it divorces essential protections from pettifogging debates over the definition of “employee.”

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 27, 2022

But the vast majority of our elected representatives overruled the pettifogging legalisms of Kennedy and the others.

From Washington Times • Jan. 13, 2021

On the first day of the Trump impeachment trial, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court John Roberts uttered the word "pettifogging" to illustrate a point.

From BBC • Jan. 22, 2020

By around the start of Wednesday’s proceedings, the pettifogging over Nadler’s use of “language that is not conducive to civil discourse” had extended from Republicans in the executive, to the judiciary, to the legislative.

From Slate • Jan. 22, 2020

A snap judgment was to be taken by these pettifogging diplomats.

From The Evidence in the Case A Discussion of the Moral Responsibility for the War of 1914, as Disclosed by the Diplomatic Records of England, Germany, Russia by Beck, James M. (James Montgomery)