petty

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.

His mother, Valborg, who had emigrated from St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands, worked as a domestic; his father, Walter, who had emigrated from St. Croix, was a petty officer in the U.S.

From Los Angeles Times • May 26, 2026

Drake turns the frigid, isolated mansion rap that’s become his trademark toward relitigating the last half-decade of petty squabbles and minor slights.

From Salon • May 21, 2026

Her neighbour, 71-year-old Kusum Mishra, who arrived 50 years ago, also dismissed the "petty compensation" offered, complaining that "they are uprooting us and destroying our lives."

From Barron's • May 18, 2026

"If you want to taсkle migration, join us and do it legally. Simply running into some market in masks isn't fighting migration - that's more like petty hooliganism," he says.

From BBC • May 15, 2026

A grandmother of a petty knight, an ugly woman with a crooked nose, seemed stately and beautiful in the torches’ strange light.

From "The Inquisitor's Tale" by Adam Gidwitz