: insignificant in performance, scope, or standing : petty
small-time thieves
small-timer noun

Examples of small-time in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
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.
Directed by Rawson Marshall Thurber, this irreverent comedy follows David Clark (played by Sudeikis), a small-time marijuana dealer whose plans go awry when he’s forced to smuggle a massive shipment of drugs from Mexico to the United States. Travis Bean, Forbes, 7 Dec. 2024 Death Becomes Her tells the darkly comic story of a love triangle between aging actress Madeline, small-time writer Helen Sharp (Jennifer Simard on Broadway, Goldie Hawn in the film), and plastic surgeon Ashton (Christopher Sieber, Bruce Willis). Ryan Coleman, EW.com, 22 Nov. 2024 In The Hills of California, Laura Donnelly’s stage mother trades favors with small-time music-industry men for her daughters’ advancement, and then Donnelly steps in to play that same daughter decades later. Jackson McHenry, Vulture, 21 Nov. 2024 Digital banks, meanwhile, have gone from being small-time disruptors to powerful forces in finance—as reflected by China’s WeBank and Korea’s KakaoBank, which have respectively notched around 400 million and 23 million customers in their respective markets. Jeff John Roberts, Fortune Asia, 6 Nov. 2024 See all Example Sentences for small-time 

Word History

First Known Use

1915, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of small-time was in 1915

Dictionary Entries Near small-time

Cite this Entry

“Small-time.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/small-time. Accessed 26 Dec. 2024.

More from Merriam-Webster on small-time

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!