petty
Example Sentences
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Or was his quest for power rooted in sheer petty selfishness?
From Slate ● Jul. 13, 2026
The general reaction to the policy has been overwhelmingly positive, Xue said, aside from some remarks on social media that charging for a smashed teacup was a petty move.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 8, 2026
“It’s Florida, Man,” HBO Max “What you’re about to see may be dangerous, illegal, unethical, petty, misguided, immoral and most definitely stupid,” a prologue warns at the top of each episode.
From Salon ● Jul. 1, 2026
"That's one of my favourite things," she says "I can write a song about being petty or jealous or super insecure, and I get it off my chest in a way that seems productive."
From BBC ● Jun. 10, 2026
He that would triumph over the petty trickery of fate must indite history at its source.
From "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume II: The Kingdom on the Waves" by M.T. Anderson
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
Some of his fellow pros and some of the lords of the game don’t like DeChambeau for other, pettier reasons.
From Slate ● Apr. 7, 2021
He had supposed her above the ordinary, pettier weaknesses of humanity.
From The Daughters of Danaus by Caird, Mona
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
Know this about the greatest teams: They’re the pettiest, most punctilious outfits you ever saw.
From Washington Post ● Feb. 13, 2023
Pruitt used his office for the pettiest of graft, betraying the public trust as a matter of course.
From Slate ● Jul. 5, 2018
But it matters not; we have learned that nothing can be lost in the soul, and that even to the very pettiest there come moments of splendor.
From The Inner Beauty by Maeterlinck, Maurice
Vocabulary lists containing petty
"Julius Caesar" by William Shakespeare, Act I
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I Am Malala
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Even More Negative Words to Describe a Person
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