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pittance Definition

pit·tance (pit'ns)

noun

  1. a small or barely sufficient allowance of money
  2. any small amount or share

Etymology: ME pitaunce < OFr pitance, portion of food allowed a monk < ML pietantia < LL(Ec) pietas: see piety

pittance Synonyms

pittance

n.

pittance Usage Examples

Preposition: of

  • wage: This entire process ensured maximum employment at, I am sure, a pittance of a wage.
  • food: Indeed the work which obtains the scanty pittance of food is for the most part excessively prolonged.

Converse of object

  • earn: People earning a pittance will take years just to save this small amount.
  • compare: It was costing a mere pittance compared with some other ill-fated government-aided schemes, e.g. The foolish Greenwich Dome!
  • pay: They were paid a pittance for lace made by the yard, .
  • receive: Chinese or Indian or Bolivian workers receive a pittance in wages.
  • get: At the moment I get a pittance for pay yet I pay an immense amount of council tax.
  • cost: Suzuki Swift: Tiny revolution It looks like the Mini's little brother, bristles with technology and costs a pittance.

Adjective modifier

  • mere: Wardle received a small remuneration from the RCA, a mere pittance considering the work he did for the Association.
  • miserable: Put them in to poor accommodation and gave them a miserable pittance to try and feed and clothe themselves.
  • small: Result - a small pittance after the council had taken its cut for unpaid nursing care.
  • relative: Was Danny Crow really not worth a chance on the back of relegation, especially given his relative pittance of a salary?
  • scanty: Indeed the work which obtains the scanty pittance of food is for the most part excessively prolonged.

Modifies a noun

wage: I only wish we had been given ' middle-class ' values, instead of simple working-class ones i.e. to work hard for pittance wages.

Preposition: in

wage: Chinese or Indian or Bolivian workers receive a pittance in wages.

Browse dictionary entries near pittance

  1. Pitt
  2. Pitot tube
  3. Pitot-static tube
  4. piton
  5. pitman
  6. pitiless
  7. pitiful
  8. pitier
  9. pitiable
  10. pithy
  1. pitted
  2. pitter-patter
  3. pittosporum
  4. Pittsburgh
  5. pituitary
  6. pity
  7. pitying
  8. pityriasis
  9. Pius
  10. Piute