pettifogger

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of pettifogger For nearly three years now, I’ve been fascinated by the performance art of this blustering pettifogger. Michael Hiltzik, Los Angeles Times, 17 May 2023
Recent Examples of Synonyms for pettifogger
Noun
  • The New York man charged with what police said was a racially motivated attack of a Black hotel clerk in Mystic nearly four years ago has filed a lawsuit seeking $500,000 from his former lawyers.
    Greg Smith, Hartford Courant, 1 Mar. 2025
  • One of their former lawyers now works as a liaison between the White House and the Justice Department.
    Dan Perry, Newsweek, 1 Mar. 2025
Noun
  • Holmes is another shyster whose story has been dissected in several documentaries and in dramatizations like Hulu’s The Dropout, but Gibney brings specific insights and a fresh perspective to this truly unbelievable story.
    Declan Gallagher, EW.com, 31 July 2024
  • And there’s a character on there who is—plays kind of a shyster attorney.
    Nick Sibilla, Forbes, 11 Nov. 2022
Noun
  • Republican purists wanted a simple, technical training school that kept the costs low and, more importantly, kept the officer corps from evolving into an aristocracy.
    Ryan Shaw / Made by History, TIME, 24 Feb. 2025
  • Literary purists bemoan the transformation of authors into content creators, arguing that time spent crafting clever tweets is time stolen from crafting sentences.
    JD Barker, Rolling Stone, 23 Jan. 2025
Noun
  • Patel, a former Justice Department attorney and longtime Trump ally, is one of the latest presidential appointees to be confirmed by the Senate.
    Bart Jansen, USA TODAY, 25 Feb. 2025
  • Most of us don’t look for an example of statesmanship in the U.S. attorney’s office of the Southern District of New York.
    John T. Shaw, Chicago Tribune, 24 Feb. 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Pettifogger.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/pettifogger. Accessed 6 Mar. 2025.

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