petty
Example Sentences
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On Sunday, Stevens characterized her flip-flop as “a personal and private decision” in the middle of a press conference talking about it, which made the whole thing look more petty than principled.
From Slate ● Nov. 2, 2026
Representing petty humanity are several couples each named for the husbands’ jobs: the Tailors, the Bakers, the Innkeepers and the Bottlewashers.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 22, 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
Trade bible Variety called it a "lacerating portrait," while Deadline said the "damning" film had "thrashed" Musk as "petty, narcissistic, megalomaniacal, cruel."
From Barron's ● Sep. 10, 2026
The petty man sat in a corner by himself.
From "The Many Assassinations of Samir, the Seller of Dreams" by Daniel Nayeri
“If I find him annoying, that means that maybe I’m going to come in a little bit pettier than usual,” says Martin.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 31, 2024
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
It’s a juicy lineup of familiar characters who are greedier and pettier than those that usually populate historical epics.
From New York Times ● Oct. 13, 2021
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
Perhaps more happens—I mean in a pettier way—when the man has leisure and can see too much of his wife.
From The Avalanche by Gertrude Franklin Horn Atherton
Again and again, Bass went after Raman in the pettiest, most personal ways.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 20, 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
What are we to say of a people who can unite the pettiest spite with a magnanimous tolerance?
From Rome by Hope Malleson
Vocabulary lists containing petty
"Julius Caesar" by William Shakespeare, Act I
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