| 单词 | petty |
| 释义 | petty (once / 387 pages) 1adjn 2adj Petty used to mean just "petite" or "small," but now it's used for things that are trivial and shouldn’t matter much. If you host world leaders and spend more time picking napkins than memorizing names, you're focused on petty things. A few neutral meanings of petty are still in use today — such as "petty cash," which refers to a small amount of cash on hand — but most uses of petty since the 16th century are negative, as in "narrow-minded," "trivial," and "of little importance." A "petty argument" is a popular expression, because many people get all worked up over something that isn't very important — a petty concern — that seems much smaller after the heat of the moment. WORD FAMILYpetty: pettier, petties, pettiest, pettily, pettiness+/pettiness: pettinesses USAGE EXAMPLESIts beauty and cultural significance deserve better than petty, partisan fights. Washington Post(Dec 30, 2016) Coast Guard Petty Officer 1st Class Andrew Kendrick says the Apache helicopter based at nearby Ellington Field was carrying two people. Seattle Times(Dec 28, 2016) Petty property crimes, of the sort that lowers quality of life in cities, are on the rise. Washington Times(Dec 28, 2016) 1 1adj (informal) small and of little importance limited to petty enterprises Syn fiddling, footling, lilliputian, little, niggling, picayune, piddling, piffling, trivial unimportant not important 2adj inferior in rank or status petty officialdom Syn junior-grade, lower-ranking, lowly, secondary, subaltern junior younger; lower in rank; shorter in length of tenure or service 3n larceny of property having a value less than some amount (the amount varies by locale) 2Syn|Ant|Hyper petit larceny, petty larceny grand larceny, grand theft larceny of property having a value greater than some amount (the amount varies by locale) larceny, stealing, theft, thievery, thieving the act of taking something from someone unlawfully adj contemptibly narrow in outlook petty little comments Syn small-minded narrow, narrow-minded lacking tolerance or flexibility or breadth of view |
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