How to Use puny in a Sentence

puny

adjective

• We laughed at their puny attempt to trick us.
• I wouldn't mess with him—he makes bodybuilders look puny in comparison.
• The cart is led by a puny old gray horse unable to carry the weight.
  — Los Angeles Times, 14 Jan. 2021
• During the text plates, the fortepiano's sound was puny in the large theater.
  — Janelle Gelfand, Cincinnati.com, 16 July 2017
• The Verdugo Mountains look like puny bumps from the canyon-top perch.
  — Los Angeles Times, 15 June 2021
• And critics think the puny settlement is a whiff by the SEC.
  — David Z. Morris, Fortune, 2 Oct. 2019
• But one thing is for sure: This ain't no puny potato gun.
  — Eric Limer, Popular Mechanics, 9 Nov. 2015
• That the barrel is 17 feet long and still looks puny gives an idea of just how big the turret is.
  — Kyle Mizokami, Popular Mechanics, 30 May 2016
• The turbines that will be erected in these projects will make BIWF2 look puny.
  — Elizabeth Kolbert, The New Yorker, 21 Nov. 2022
• With just three puny anti-tank guns on hand, the GIs made the oil itself their weapon.
  — Robert Zubrin, National Review, 16 Dec. 2019
• Compared to the megalodon, the model of the modern-day great white shark seems puny.
  — Susan Dunne, courant.com, 3 July 2019
• Some of its relatives have 40 times the DNA of us puny humans.
  — John Timmer, Ars Technica, 25 Jan. 2018
• In the end, only one puny young man had the spark of hope needed to pull the sword from its tree and dispel the darkness.
  — Ben Rosenstock, Vulture, 17 Apr. 2021
• But the story is puny and seems to be in serious need of a protein shake.
  — Kelly Fiveash, Ars Technica, 4 June 2017
• There are few sadder things in life than a puny, shriveled grape.
  — Marissa Wu, Southern Living, 1 July 2021
• There was a photo of Daria in the middle of a sea of volcanic ash, kneeling over a puny tree.
  — Lara Vapnyar, The New Yorker, 4 Sep. 2023
• Joni was right: a river is the best place to skate away, from America, from my own puny woes, the liars and the bullies, the grief and the loss.
  — Leanne Shapton, Travel + Leisure, 5 Mar. 2021
• My humor is puny compared with the jokes of those who came before.
  — Washington Post, 23 Sep. 2021
• The puny wages paid for their labor went to state governments.
  — Michelle Singletary, Washington Post, 20 Nov. 2020
• On the air, Nevada and its six electoral college votes is the puny pal for the other six main swing states.
  — Philip Elliott, TIME, 8 Aug. 2024
• To watch you through the essay, trying to keep going and living and… the word healing is so puny in the face of such a loss.
  — Megan Stielstra, Longreads, 19 Apr. 2018
• In light of the attack, the fence around the campus looks puny, even perfunctory.
  — Ron Charles, Washington Post, 15 Aug. 2022
• Or even one of those weird, puny, overcooked Kix bits found at the bottom of the cereal box.
  — Marci Robin, Allure, 13 July 2018
• Too much fruit saps a tree’s energy and leaves you with a lot of puny lemons instead of a few big, healthy ones.
  — Leanne Potts, Better Homes & Gardens, 9 Oct. 2024
• That figure seems puny for a city that only last year set a record for wetness.
  — Martin Weil, Washington Post, 7 June 2019
• The tyrannosaurus rex, for instance, had longer and larger arms than abelisaurids, but don't let their puny arms fool you.
  — Jordan Mendoza, USA TODAY, 20 Feb. 2022
• When a stock has a low price/sales ratio, often the profits are puny compared to sales.
  — John Dorfman, Forbes, 18 July 2022
• There’s no sugarcoating it: The 14.5-mile trek made my three-mile hikes seem puny.
  — Los Angeles Times, 8 Mar. 2021
• The thinking goes like this: The Chinese could perceive Trump as weak and this is a moment to try to push for something quick and puny.
  — Heather Long, Washington Post, 25 Sep. 2019
• These supermoons make the moon appear 14% bigger in the sky than the smallest, farthest moon, the puny moon.
  — Dean Regas, The Enquirer, 23 Apr. 2021

Last Updated: 22 Dec 2024