paltry Hear it!

paltry Definition

pal·try (pôltrē)

adjective -·trier, -·tri·est

practically worthless; trifling; insignificant; contemptible; petty

Etymology: prob. < LowG paltrig, ragged < palte, a rag

paltry Related Forms
pal·tri·ness noun
paltry Synonyms

paltry

modif.

small, insignificant, trifling, piddling; see trivial, unimportant.

paltry Usage Examples

Modifying Another Word

  • rather: Suddenly your MA or MSc seems rather paltry as you contemplate the competition you're up against in getting a job.
  • so: This may look a long period for so paltry a world.
  • very: Unfortunately, a very paltry amount of time was given to that amendment, as so often happens in another place.
  • pretty: Although investment is at record levels, it is still pretty paltry.
  • too: These infinitesimal distinctions between man and man are too paltry for an Omnipotent Being.
  • often: Fines for successful prosecutions are often paltry, but have been as high £ 101,000.

Preposition: by

  • comparison: The arguments against it are, in real terms, paltry by comparison.

Modifies a noun

  • sum: To put these patients at risk for a paltry sum of £ 16,000 a year is beyond belief.
  • salary: Getting nowhere, the workers offered the ministry a simple choice: increase their paltry salaries or they would all join the armed resistance.
  • amount: Sheep and camels are also on sale for paltry amounts.
  • figure: This puts India's paltry figure of 0.7 miles well into the shade.
  • fee: Paul Robinson is rumored to be on the verge of signing for Crewe Alexandra for the paltry fee of £ 75,000.
  • return: Yet whilst this seems a paltry return for your thirty notes, there's the small matter of the high-score table to consider.

Used with adjective complement

  • seem: O f course, there's still the Crown regalia, which even today seem paltry compared to the regalia of other countries.
paltry Quotes

An aged man is but a paltry thing, A tattered coat upon a stick, unless Soul clap its hands and sing, and louder sing For every tatter in its mortal dress.

—Yeats,W(illiam) B(utler)

Browse dictionary entries near paltry

  1. paltriness
  2. palter
  3. palsy-walsy
  4. palsy
  5. palsied
  6. palsgrave
  7. palpus
  8. palpitation
  9. palpitate
  10. palpebral
  1. paludal
  2. paludism
  3. paly
  4. palynology
  5. pam
  6. Pamela
  7. Pamirs
  8. Pamlico Sound
  9. pampa
  10. pampas