as in slight
old-fashioned
worrying too much about details that are minor or not important
pettifogging lawyers
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Recent Examples of Synonyms for pettifogging
Adjective
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International museums in 2024 collectively experienced a slight dip in attendance that marks a return to normalcy in the wake of the Covid-19 crisis, the Art Newspaper reports.—
News Desk,
Artforum,
1 Apr. 2025 -
Good Night and Good Luck, starring George Clooney, was the highest grossing show on Broadway again last week, even as its grosses took a slight dip.—
Caitlin Huston,
HollywoodReporter,
1 Apr. 2025
Adjective
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Mixed in with small pleasures and petty disputes with her older sister are true feats of survival and bravery.—
Lynette Rice,
Deadline,
22 Mar. 2025
-
Gangs stop petty thievery in their own neighborhoods.—
Walter E Block,
Orange County Register,
22 Mar. 2025
Adjective
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Plus, gone are the days of worrying about not having enough sink space in a tiny hotel bathroom.—
Hannah Freedman,
Travel + Leisure,
29 Mar. 2025
-
Nearby in the tiny, no-stoplight community of Leslie, Arkansas, which gets water from the Ozark system, the only dentist in town operates out of a one-man clinic tucked in the back of an antique store.—
Brett Kelman,
CNN Money,
29 Mar. 2025
Adjective
-
While the whole collection starts at 1,150 euros for a slimline bracelet with a minute buckle motif and goes up to over a million euros for its high jewelry designs, most of its models currently sit in the low four-figure range.—
Lily Templeton,
WWD,
14 Mar. 2025
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At this level, there are usually minute differences between animals that make the cut and those that don’t.—
Matthew Adams,
Fort Worth Star-Telegram,
8 Feb. 2025
Adjective
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With that much water needed for even the most trifling tasks, the natural question becomes: How does that water reach those data centers, let alone the world’s farms and factories?—
IEEE Spectrum,
IEEE Spectrum,
28 May 2010
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And yet the movie’s insularity feels trifling and empty.—
David Rooney,
The Hollywood Reporter,
17 Feb. 2024
Adjective
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The biggest reason: New York’s discovery law allows cases to be dismissed even for trivial, fixable discovery violations.—
Jane Manning,
New York Daily News,
31 Mar. 2025
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If anything, becoming a weird little guy, by my definition, is about rejecting the despair that leads down those kinds of regressive paths, and daring to care about something, even — and perhaps especially — if that something might seem kind of dumb or trivial to the outside world.—
James Factora,
Them.,
28 Mar. 2025
Adjective
-
Governed by a growth mindset devoted to the logic of disruption, moving fast and breaking things, a flourishing structure of feeling about AI and art history has sprung up on the grounds of very little AI-and-art-history to have feelings about.—
Sonja Drimmer,
Artforum,
1 Apr. 2025
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Shark Robot Vacuum/Mop Deals The Shark Matrix Plus 2-in-1 Robot Vacuum & Mop is one smart little robot.—
Carlos Mejia,
PC Magazine,
31 Mar. 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
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Cite this Entry
“Pettifogging.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/pettifogging. Accessed 10 Apr. 2025.
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