Hypertext Webster Gateway: "petty"
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Petty \Pet"ty\, a. [Compar. {Pettier}; superl. {Pettiest}.] [OE.
petit, F. petit; probably of Celtic origin, and akin to E.
piece. Cf. {Petit}.]
Little; trifling; inconsiderable; also, inferior;
subordinate; as, a petty fault; a petty prince. --Denham.
Like a petty god I walked about, admired of all.
--Milton.
{Petty averages}. See under {Average}.
{Petty cash}, money expended or received in small items or
amounts.
{Petty officer}, a subofficer in the navy, as a gunner, etc.,
corresponding to a noncommissionned officer in the army.
Note: For petty constable, petty jury, petty larceny, petty
treason, See {Petit}.
Syn: Little; diminutive; inconsiderable; inferior; trifling;
trivial; unimportant; frivolous.
From WordNet (r) 1.7 (wn)
petty
adj 1: inferior in rank or status; "the junior faculty"; "a lowly
corporal"; "petty officialdom"; "a subordinate
functionary" [syn: {junior-grade}, {inferior}, {lower},
{lower-ranking}, {lowly}, {petty(a)}, {secondary}, {subaltern},
{subordinate}]
2: (informal terms) small and of little importance; "a fiddling
sum of money"; "a footling gesture"; "our worries are
lilliputian compared with those of countries that are at
war"; "a little (or small) matter"; "Mickey Mouse
regulations"; "a dispute over niggling details"; "limited
to petty enterprises"; "piffling efforts"; "giving a
police officer a free meal may be against the law, but it
seems to be a picayune infraction" [syn: {fiddling}, {footling},
{lilliputian}, {little}, {Mickey Mouse}, {niggling}, {piddling},
{piffling}, {picayune}, {trivial}]
3: contemptibly narrow in outlook; "petty little comments";
"disgusted with their small-minded pettiness" [syn: {small-minded}]
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