PICAYUNE Synonyms: 172 Similar and Opposite Words

picayune 1 of 2

adjective

as in petty

not broad or open in views or opinions the picayune ponderings of a commentator who steadfastly believes other cultures are inferior to our own

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

as in nominal

so small or unimportant as to warrant little or no attention irritatingly picayune complaints

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

picayune

2 of 2

noun

ˌpi-kē-ˈyün

as in nothing

something of little importance our lives don't amount to a picayune in the great scheme of things

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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 picayune

Adjective

At this point you may be exhausted by the exploration of picayune facts. —

Razib Khan, Discover Magazine, 28 July 2012 But only a fool would harp on picayune flaws when this rich material is being served with such musical polish and sensitivity. —

Charles Isherwood, WSJ, 18 Aug. 2022 Challenging ballot designations has become something of a sport in California politics — squabbles over the occasionally picayune rules return each cycle like the swallows to Capistrano. —

Los Angeles Times, 19 Mar. 2022 What would normally be regarded as an investigation that has reached the level of pursuing such picayune matters that it should be concluded, may to him or her be an investigation that ought to go on for another year. —

Dan McLaughlin, National Review, 13 Mar. 2022 There are at least two explanations: One is that the violations are so picayune as to expose a petty scheme to dump the executive. —

Washington Post, 19 Feb. 2022 This was the Britain—still very imperial yet so very picayune—to which Mr. Sen, who would go on to win the Nobel Prize in economics, had come to study. —

Tunku Varadarajan, WSJ, 21 Jan. 2022 Vance’s investigation, which appears to be focussed largely on business practices that Trump engaged in before taking office, may seem picayune in comparison with the outrageous offenses to democratic norms that Trump committed as President. —

Jane Mayer, The New Yorker, 12 Mar. 2021 But after months of family quarantine, combined with the confusion and exasperation of school-Zoom days, more of our wind-down reading sessions have involved the sureness of facts — picayune details about dogs and skyscrapers and coral reefs. —

Mark Athitakis, Washington Post, 24 Nov. 2020

Noun

Observers believe a flood of intervention into D.C. laws — from the sweeping to the picayune — is more likely than a total revocation of home rule (though there is a longshot bill for that, too). —

Cuneyt Dil, Axios, 18 July 2024 Light-bodied and easy to drink, it’s got all the hallmarks of a classic grain whisky, but with a flavor profile that’s big and layered enough to satisfy the most picayune of single-malt snobs. —

Tony Sachs, Forbes, 30 Nov. 2023 The show has always dwelled in the picayune at times, but these and so many other moments feel like attempts to find the fight, to gin something up. —

Daniel D'addario, Variety, 13 July 2023

Recent Examples of Synonyms for picayune

Adjective

Organized theft is no petty crime; these are not one-off crimes of desperation or a mom lifting a can of formula to feed her baby.

— Cailey Locklair, Baltimore Sun, 27 Jan. 2025
In November 2023, Pryer filed a motion to terminate her remaining two years of probation based on a recent court ruling which held that a defendant convicted of a single petty offense may not be sentenced to both imprisonment and probation.

— Judy L. Thomas, Kansas City Star, 22 Jan. 2025