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.

Experts were doubtful from the start of his pettifogging that he had reasonable grounds to bail out.

From Los Angeles Times • Jul. 8, 2022

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

From Washington Times • Jan. 13, 2021

The word is so seldom used that Google Ngrams, which measures the frequency that words appear in books and journals, shows that "pettifogging" peaked in 1900, but has gradually disappeared.

From BBC • Jan. 22, 2020

The result is that workers, job-seekers and public services of every kind are subject to a pettifogging, stifling regime of assessment and monitoring, designed to identify the winners and punish the losers.

From The Guardian • Apr. 15, 2016

There is not a lawyer's clerk in Ireland, there is no pettifogging practitioner for half-crown fees, there's not a brat that carries a blue bag down the Bachelor's Walk, could n't teach you all three.

From The Dodd Family Abroad, Vol. I by Lever, Charles James