as in nominal
so small or unimportant as to warrant little or no attention
the assistant's job was to shield the president from such footling problems
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
as in dawdling
to spend time doing nothing
spent the morning footling about while others were working
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Examples Sentences
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Recent Examples of footling
Barton Swaim, WSJ, 21 June 2019
Adjective
By comparison with previous Establishment Clause cases, however, this lawsuit looked footling and rather mean.
—Barton Swaim, WSJ, 21 June 2019
Recent Examples of Synonyms for footling
Adjective
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While some of the nominees fall far afield from the norms—Hegseth, Gabbard, and RFK Jr. are the marquee names in that cohort, for sure—the bulk will face only nominal opposition from Democrats.Philip Elliott, TIME, 8 Jan. 2025
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Of course, all the good deeds in the world can’t buy your way into heaven, but as a nominal Catholic, Biden may have been persuaded by the Pope to commute the sentences.Chris Roemer, Baltimore Sun, 2 Jan. 2025
Adjective
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California saw a slight decrease in unemployment from October to November 2024, according to the most recent data from the U.S. Department of Labor.Kevin Lynn, Newsweek, 8 Jan. 2025
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The result is a fund that closely mirrors its benchmark in terms of overall composition, but with slight tweaks aimed at generating excess returns.Ganesh Rao, CNBC, 7 Jan. 2025
Adjective
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Then, the pandemic reduced the schedule to 60 games and Eddie got a piddling 37%.Star Tribune, Star Tribune, 3 Dec. 2020
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Millions of additional claims are expected to stream in from around the country over the coming weeks, while hiring remains piddling.Patricia Cohen, New York Times, 23 Apr. 2020
Adjective
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But the smoke is still rising, and petty partisanship is a distraction and disservice at the moment, given all that’s been lost, and all the hard work of moving forward.Steve Lopez, Los Angeles Times, 10 Jan. 2025
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In an era of steadily declining trust in media, the dry formalities of a legal template provide not only an imprimatur of institutional credibility, but also the freedom to go into extreme amounts of detail without seeming petty, tedious or self-indulgent.Eleanor Hawkins, Axios, 9 Jan. 2025
Verb
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The loud ticking sound when my car is idling.Chicago Tribune, Chicago Tribune, 28 Dec. 2024
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My heartbeat pounded in my ears, drowning out the anticipatory purr of two ambulance engines idling nearby.Daphne Ewing-Chow, Forbes, 23 Dec. 2024
Adjective
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And yet the movie’s insularity feels trifling and empty.David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter, 17 Feb. 2024
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The cost to find these answers, even in the near term, is relatively trifling.Phil Plait, Scientific American, 30 Oct. 2023
Verb
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The course proved to be a scenic one, as Connor also encountered some local wildlife, including a crocodile lounging by the water at the 13th hole and two antelopes locked in a playful antler battle near a sand trap.Kevin Lynn, Newsweek, 8 Jan. 2025
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There is also time for lounging on the Pink Beach.Bianca Salonga, Forbes, 6 Jan. 2025
Adjective
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Despite their immense size, these gentle giants are filter feeders, primarily consuming plankton, small fish, and other tiny organisms by swimming with their mouths open to filter food from the water.Melissa Cristina Marquez, Forbes, 16 Jan. 2025
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Those in-the-moment progressions can feel tiny and barely perceptible from one session to the next.Cindy Kuzma, SELF, 16 Jan. 2025
Thesaurus Entries Near footling
Cite this Entry
“Footling.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/footling. Accessed 21 Jan. 2025.
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