How to Use petty in a Sentence

petty

adjective
Definition of pettynext
Synonyms for pettynext
  • The dirty streets, the petty crime, the eerily silent transit stations.
    — Heather Knight, New York Times, 28 Dec. 2023
  • Emails have piled up and my phone is abuzz with petty gossip.
    — Sarah Gillespie, Travel + Leisure, 15 May 2023
  • Not in a malicious sense, of course — more a petty one.
    — Sheldon Pearce, NPR, 13 June 2024
  • Or, in this case, about science and not the petty problems of earthlings.
    — Ryan Lattanzio, IndieWire, 9 July 2024
  • Were there any other ideas, in terms of petty acts of revenge, that didn't make the final cut?
    — Jessica Wang, EW.com, 10 Apr. 2023
  • For some in the agency, shakedowns of petty drug dealers are understood to be a perk of the job.
    — Andy Greenberg, WIRED, 1 Nov. 2022
  • The full Moon of the 5th tunes you in to dreams, faraway places and vision quests—so ignore petty annoyances that are in the air.
    — Katharine Merlin, Town & Country, 1 Feb. 2023
  • To be that hostile and petty — to friends, no less, who are feeding them dinner — sounds deeply jerky to me.
    — Carolyn Hax, Washington Post, 5 May 2023
  • Oh, how low the men of Westeros stoop in their petty grasps for power.
    — Lauren Puckett-Pope, ELLE, 17 Oct. 2022
  • The gossip or petty stuff is just a waste of time and is almost like an infection.
    — Stephen Gerard, Forbes, 29 Nov. 2023
  • There were deep convos, petty fights, and sky-high heels galore.
    — Korin Miller, Women's Health, 17 Aug. 2023
  • For some of them, that means driving down petty crime at places central to their daily lives.
    — Paul Duggan, Washington Post, 28 July 2023
  • The tension mounts, and soon husband and wife are having an ugly, petty fight.
    — Alan Sepinwall, Rolling Stone, 24 Nov. 2023
  • In a sequel from the two-time Pulitzer winner, Ray Carney is pulled back into petty crime.
    — The California Independent Booksellers Alliance, Los Angeles Times, 6 Sep. 2023
  • Violators would be guilty of a petty offense and face a $50 fine.
    — Brieanna J. Frank, USA TODAY, 30 June 2023
  • And by throwing shade this week, Anthony wound up looking a heck of a lot more petty than the Nuggets ever did.
    — Sean Keeler, The Denver Post, 13 Jan. 2024
  • The leader of the British crew had reacted to this petty crime by shooting not only the thief but also a second Māori man.
    — Elizabeth Kolbert, The New Yorker, 1 Apr. 2024
  • And what celebrity is petty enough to spend millions of dollars — and years of their lives — airing their own dirty laundry?
    — Daniel Novack, The Hollywood Reporter, 23 Sep. 2022
  • And her scheming goes far beyond these kinds of playful, albeit petty jabs at the people who have caused her harm.
    — Annabel Gutterman, Time, 21 Oct. 2022
  • No one feels safe walking the streets, and petty insults are reason enough for someone to start shooting.
    — Charles McNulty, Los Angeles Times, 11 Apr. 2024
  • This is all kind of petty and mean but also a little relatable.
    — Roxane Gay, New York Times, 3 Feb. 2023
  • Coming back to the drama a little bit—I’m curious about, well, the petty crime, Colin.
    — Hazlitt, 20 Mar. 2024
  • Quaid’s role, a naive sailor sentenced to eight years’ time for a petty offense, nearly went to John Travolta.
    — Glenn Whipp, Los Angeles Times, 8 Mar. 2024
  • With the World Cup less than six months away, even the suggestion the women are being short-changed will be seen as petty and disgraceful.
    — Nancy Armour, USA TODAY, 17 Feb. 2023
  • Sharpe is easily a top-five tight end, and O’Neal continues to look petty.
    — Troy Renck, The Denver Post, 11 May 2024
  • Whether the reasons for the friction are substantial or petty, the angst and problems this can create are legion.
    — Martin Shenkman, Forbes, 20 Feb. 2024
  • Each of them shows up, flaunting their petty concerns and nabob narcissism, until the film moves on to someone else.
    — Owen Gleiberman, Variety, 2 Sep. 2023
  • Inmates allege they were jailed for petty crimes, such as stealing $40.
    — al, 7 Aug. 2023
  • Now all that trust had collapsed in a petty argument over money.
    — Indrani Sen, Fortune, 30 Jan. 2024
  • Recently, the city has grappled with a bed bug outbreak, dengue scares, petty crime, public transport workers’ strikes, and more.
    — Byprarthana Prakash, Fortune Europe, 29 June 2024

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'petty.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Last Updated: