Paltry
['pɔːltrɪ;'pɒl-] or ['pɔltri]
Definition
(superl.) Mean; vile; worthless; despicable; contemptible; pitiful; trifling; as, a paltry excuse; paltry gold.
Typist: Nelda
Synonyms and Synonymous
a. [1]. Small, little, diminutive, inconsiderable, insignificant, unimportant, petty, miserable, wretched, slight, slender, feeble, trifling, trivial, of no consequence, of no importance.[2]. Base, vile, abject, grovelling, low, mean, beggarly, pitiful, despicable, contemptible.
Checked by John
Synonyms and Antonyms
SYN:Mean, shabby, shuffling, trifling, prevaricating, shifty, contemptible,pitiable, vi_e, worthless, beggarly, trashy
ANT:Noble, honorable, candid, conscientious, determined, straightforward,estimable, admirable, worthy, magnificent
Editor: Orville
Definition
adj. mean: vile: worthless.—adv. Pal′trily.—n. Pal′triness.
Inputed by Alex
Examples
- She was far above the paltry affectation of being confused. Wilkie Collins. The Moonstone.
- But, in my opinion, it is a paltry device, a very mean art. Jane Austen. Pride and Prejudice.
- My love would have been devoted--would have trod your paltry whimpering under foot! Charles Dickens. David Copperfield.
- You are much mistaken if you expect to influence me by such a paltry attack as this. Jane Austen. Pride and Prejudice.
- Not a large sum for a paltry secret, that may be nothing when it's told! Charles Dickens. Oliver Twist.
- Now let us turn to our richest museums, and what a paltry display we behold! Charles Darwin. On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection.
- All the rest of the produce properly belonged to him too, either as rent for his land, or as profit upon this paltry capital. Adam Smith. An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations.
- The most trivial, paltry, insignificant part; the merest commonplace; not a tolerable speech in the whole. Jane Austen. Mansfield Park.
- Why had he brought his cheap regard and his lip-born words to her who had nothing paltry to give in exchange? George Eliot. Middlemarch.
- The style was very unequal I thought: now paltry and ungraceful, now elevated. Harriette Wilson. The Memoirs of Harriette Wilson.
- Other people prosper and grow rich, and hold their paltry names high and dry above shame. Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell. North and South.
- She said a franc was a good thing to have, and she did not care any thing for one paltry kiss, because she had a million left. Mark Twain. The Innocents Abroad.
- Buying me for a few paltry dollars? Edgar Rice Burroughs. Tarzan of the Apes.
Inputed by Alex