petty

4 definitions • 5 examples

not important and not worth giving attention to:

Prisoners complain that they are subjected to too many petty rules and restrictions.

complaining too much about things that are not important:

Don't be so petty!

small or of little importance:

a petty thief

I don’t have time for petty matters like that.

selfish and mean, esp. because of having too much interest in small and unimportant matters:

Retaliating against the people who have criticized us will make us look petty.