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Definitions

petty

[pet-ee] / ˈpɛt i /


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.

See Examples For:

The petty feuding with Canada that has strained the usually warm relations between Michiganders and their northern neighbor.

From Slate ● Nov. 3, 2026

Parsa, the owner who had to eject petty criminals, wishes she’d recorded some of the early craziness; her TikToks today focus on cash collection and cleaning.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 19, 2026

Set in a fictional trailer park in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, Trailer Park Boys follows the adventures of three longtime friends and petty criminals.

From BBC ● Oct. 1, 2026

Then there’s another part of me that has a 3,000-person Rolodex in my head because I’m petty sometimes.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 21, 2026

“You’re not exactly unbiased when it comes to questioning your parents,” he said, and he knew it was a petty, underhanded thing to say.

From "Anger Is a Gift" by Mark Oshiro

It doesn’t get any pettier and mean-girlie than “Did she sandblast her face or something? It’s very waxy.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 23, 2025

Listen, I’m sure there will be a lot of sturm und drang about what the whistleblower disclosures mean for Elon Musk’s Twitter deal, but I want to focus on something dumber and pettier: Jack Dorsey.

From The Verge ● Aug. 23, 2022

But because Doncic is an NBA all-star, his true intent probably was pettier — an insinuation that the refs were on the Suns’ payroll.

From Washington Post ● May 10, 2022

What recent appraisals haven’t settled, though, is a pettier tiff among De Palma’s fans, about the “right” way to appreciate De Palma.

From New York Times ● Sep. 24, 2020

Carter had been the Napoleonic adventurer, and Rodman only the pettier type.

From The Key to Yesterday by Charles Neville Buck

The show finds ways to expose the worst in its characters, their pettiest, most vengeful, greediest parts.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 3, 2026

It’s elementary: Characters can do outlandish things, commit outrageous crimes, be inspired by the pettiest of motives.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 30, 2025

Furst insisted no topic is off the table, from the pettiest accusation to the most serious charge.

From Seattle Times ● Dec. 21, 2023

This is just the pettiest host behavior in my recent memory — at least.

From Washington Post ● Dec. 12, 2018

The pettiest German principality scarcely limits its literary encouragement to this sum.

From Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 59, No. 368, June 1846 by Various


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