as in nominal
so small or unimportant as to warrant little or no attention
raised one final, piddling objection to the plan
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Recent Examples of piddling
Star Tribune, 3 Dec. 2020
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
What’s particularly baffling is that Syria now produces a piddling amount of oil—about as much as Utah.
—Robin Wright, The New Yorker, 30 Oct. 2019
That will make the current economic uncertainty look piddling.
—Daniel W. Drezner, Twin Cities, 15 Aug. 2019
In the battle for mind share, in the Trumpian quest to be part of every conversation, the Pixel far outweighs its piddling sales.
—Vlad Savov, The Verge, 16 Oct. 2018
Of those, only four rather piddling victories went the liberals’ way.
—The Economist, 30 June 2018
Learning about other runners' struggles and triumphs helps put my piddling run into a bigger narrative, often allowing me to see myself differently within another story.
—Alli Harvey, Anchorage Daily News, 21 June 2018
How to: Improve the Wi-Fi reception in your home
The most-improved was Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, which went from a piddling 2.68 Mbps download speed in 2017 to 59.62 Mbps this year.
—Dwight Silverman, Houston Chronicle, 12 June 2018
Adjective
Then, the pandemic reduced the schedule to 60 games and Eddie got a piddling 37%.
—Star Tribune, 3 Dec. 2020
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
What’s particularly baffling is that Syria now produces a piddling amount of oil—about as much as Utah.
—Robin Wright, The New Yorker, 30 Oct. 2019
That will make the current economic uncertainty look piddling.
—Daniel W. Drezner, Twin Cities, 15 Aug. 2019
In the battle for mind share, in the Trumpian quest to be part of every conversation, the Pixel far outweighs its piddling sales.
—Vlad Savov, The Verge, 16 Oct. 2018
Of those, only four rather piddling victories went the liberals’ way.
—The Economist, 30 June 2018
Learning about other runners' struggles and triumphs helps put my piddling run into a bigger narrative, often allowing me to see myself differently within another story.
—Alli Harvey, Anchorage Daily News, 21 June 2018
How to: Improve the Wi-Fi reception in your home
The most-improved was Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, which went from a piddling 2.68 Mbps download speed in 2017 to 59.62 Mbps this year.
—Dwight Silverman, Houston Chronicle, 12 June 2018
Recent Examples of Synonyms for piddling
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 major concern with Johnson in his first two pro seasons was that his slight frame would have trouble surviving against larger, more physical players.Aaron Portzline, The Athletic, 7 Jan. 2025
Adjective
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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
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For what’s known as PM2.5 pollution, or tiny inhalable particles of smoke and dust, a PurpleAir sensor located south of Los Angeles International Airport simultaneously returned on Monday an air quality index of 28 on AirNow’s website, 20 on WatchDuty, and 5 on PurpleAir’s official page.Paresh Dave, WIRED, 16 Jan. 2025
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
Adjective
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Any defection over the most trivial procedural or legislative matters could block the party's agenda.G. Elliott Morris, ABC News, 7 Jan. 2025
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For investors, this means that meaningful financial updates from companies will be accompanied by mountains of trivial environmental data.Stone Washington, National Review, 31 Dec. 2024
Verb
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Liverpool are regularly seeing apps that replicate the appearance of genuine tickets — fooling not just first-time visitors to Anfield.James Pearce, The Athletic, 2 Jan. 2025
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The ultimate aim is, with the use of multiple layers of such transformations, fooling malware classifiers into thinking malicious code is, in fact, totally benign.Davey Winder, Forbes, 24 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 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
Thesaurus Entries Near piddling
Cite this Entry
“Piddling.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/piddling. Accessed 21 Jan. 2025.
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