From WordNet (r) 2.0 (August 2003) [wn]:
petty
adj 1: inferior in rank or status; "the junior faculty"; "a lowly
corporal"; "petty officialdom"; "a subordinate
functionary" [syn: junior-grade, inferior,
lower, lower-ranking, lowly, {petty(a)},
secondary, subaltern, subordinate]
2: (informal terms) small and of little importance; "a fiddling
sum of money"; "a footling gesture"; "our worries are
lilliputian compared with those of countries that are at
war"; "a little (or small) matter"; "Mickey Mouse
regulations"; "a dispute over niggling details"; "limited
to petty enterprises"; "piffling efforts"; "giving a
police officer a free meal may be against the law, but it
seems to be a picayune infraction" [syn: fiddling,
footling, lilliputian, little, Mickey Mouse,
niggling, piddling, piffling, picayune, trivial]
3: contemptibly narrow in outlook; "petty little comments";
"disgusted with their small-minded pettiness" [syn:
small-minded]
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Petty \Pet"ty\ (p[e^]t"t[y^]), a. [Compar. Pettier
(p[e^]t"t[i^]*[~e]r); superl. Pettiest.] [OE. petit, F.
petit; probably of Celtic origin, and akin to E. piece. Cf.
Petit.]
Little; trifling; inconsiderable; unimportant; also,
inferior; subordinate; as, a petty fault; petty complaints; a
petty prince. --Denham.
[1913 Webster]
Like a petty god
I walked about, admired of all. --Milton.
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Petty averages. See under Average.
Petty cash, money expended or received in small items or
amounts.
Petty officer, a subofficer in the navy, as a gunner, etc.,
corresponding to a noncommissionned officer in the army.
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Note: For petty constable, petty jury, petty larceny, petty
treason, See Petit.
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Syn: Little; diminutive; inconsiderable; inferior; trifling;
trivial; unimportant; frivolous.
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