The adjective is derived from Middle English peti, pety [and other forms], from Anglo-Norman petit, Middle French petit, and Old French peti, petit, pitet (modern French petit), ultimately of imitative origin.

The noun is derived from the adjective.

• (RP) IPA: /ˈpɛt.i/
• (America) IPA: /ˈpɛt.i/, [ˈpʰɛɾ.i]
• (Australia) IPA: /ˈpet.i/

petty (comparative pettier, superlative pettiest)

1. (often, derogatory)
   1. Having little or no importance. [from 16th c.]

      Synonyms: Thesaurus:insignificant

      Antonyms: Thesaurus:important

      a petty fault    petty squabbles

      • c. 1596–1598 (date written), W[illiam] Shakespeare, The Excellent History of the Merchant of Venice. […] (First Quarto), [London]: […] J[ames] Roberts [for Thomas Heyes], published 1600, →OCLC ↗, [Act I, scene i] ↗:

        Your minde is toſſing on the Ocean, / There vvhere your Argoſies vvith portly ſayle, / Like Signiors and rich Burgars on the flood, / Or as it vvere the Pageants of the ſea, / Doe ouer-peere the petty traffiquers / That curſie to them, do them reuerence / As they flie by them vvith their vvouen vvings.

      • c. 1615–1620 (date written), Tho[mas] Middleton, The Mayor of Quinborough: A Comedy. […] [Hengist, King of Kent], London: […] Henry Herringman, […], published 1661, →OCLC ↗, Act V, scene ii, page 72 ↗:

        I could have liv'd like Hengiſt, King of Kent, / London, York, Lincoln, and VVincheſter, / Under the povver of my Command, the portion / Of my moſt juſt deſert, enjoyed novv / By pettier Deſervers.

      • 1667, John Dryden, Annus Mirabilis: The Year of Wonders, 1666. […], London: […] Henry Herringman, […], →OCLC ↗, stanza 213, [https://archive.org/details/bim_early-english-books-1641-1700_annus-mirabilis-_dryden-john_1667/page/(54)/mode/1up page 54]:

        His birth, perhaps, ſome petty Village hides, / And ſets his Cradle out of Fortune's way: […]

      • 1678, John Bunyan, The Pilgrim's Progress from This World, to That which is to Come: […], London: […] Nath[aniel] Ponder […], →OCLC ↗, page 96 ↗:

        Yea, he did hold me to it at that rate alſo, about a great many more things than here I relate; as, that it was a ſhame to ſit vvhining and mourning under a Sermon, and a ſhame to come ſighing and groaning home. That it was a ſhame to ask my Neighbour forgiveneſs for petty faults, or to make restitution vvhere I have taken from any: […]

      • 1821, Lord Byron, “Cain, a Mystery”, in Sardanapalus, a Tragedy; The Two Foscari, a Tragedy; Cain, a Mystery, London: John Murray, […], →OCLC ↗, Act II, scene ii, page 390 ↗:

        I show thee what thy predecessors are, / And what they were thou feelest, in degree / Inferior as thy petty feelings and / Thy pettier portion of the immortal part / Of high intelligence and earthly strength.

      • 1848, Charles Kingsley, Junior, The Saint’s Tragedy; or, The True Story of Elizabeth of Hungary, […], London: John W[illiam] Parker, […], →OCLC ↗, Act II, scene xi, page 138 ↗:

        Who would rot on the moor-side forgotten, / Slaughtered bickering for some petty town, / While the rich East blooms fragrant before us, / And all fairy land beckons us on?

   2. Of persons or their behaviour: marked by or reflective of undesirably limited interests, sympathies, or views; begrudging, selfish, small-minded; also, preoccupied with subjects having little or no importance and not mindful of broader concerns. [from 16th c.]

      Synonyms: grudgeful, grudging

      Antonyms: broad-minded

      Such literature may well be anathema to those who are too docile and petty for their own good.

      That corporation is only slightly pettier than they are greedy, and they are overdue to reap the consequences.

      • 1625, Francis [Bacon], “Of Expence”, in The Essayes […], 3rd edition, London: […] Iohn Haviland for Hanna Barret, →OCLC ↗, page 166 ↗:

        [C]ommonly, it is leſſe diſhonourable, to abridge pettie Charges, then to ſtoope to pettie Gettings.

      • 1908, E[dward] M[organ] Forster, “Lying to Cecil”, in A Room with a View, London: Edward Arnold, →OCLC ↗, part II, page 264 ↗:

        He began to walk up and down the room, and she grew more and more vexed at his dignified behaviour. She had counted on his being petty. It would have made things easier for her. By a cruel irony she was drawing but all that was finest in his disposition.

   3. (informal) Inclined to cause frustration or annoyance to others out of spite over minor grievances; extremely vindictive.

      Synonyms: Thesaurus:vengeful

      My cousin is so petty—I forgot his birthday and he's been making snarky comments all week.

      • 2020 November 14, Lisa Allardice, “Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie: ’America under Trump felt like a personal loss’”, in Katharine Viner, editor, The Guardian‎^{[https://web.archive.org/web/20230529133222/https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/nov/14/chimamanda-ngozi-adichie-america-under-trump-felt-like-a-personal-loss]}, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN ↗, →OCLC ↗, archived from the original ↗ on 2023-05-29:

        All of the horrors that happen in the book are based on real incidents, including the burning of her father's books in their front yard. "It was just a very petty, ugly thing to do, to say 'Fuck you' to academics and intellectuals," she says. " I can't imagine losing my books, the books I love."

      • 2021 April 2, Roxane Gay, “Sorry, Sometimes You Do Have to Be Uncomfortable”, in The New York Times‎^{[https://web.archive.org/web/20230330211945/https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/02/business/roxane-gay-work-friend-diversity-inclusion.html]}, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN ↗, →OCLC ↗, archived from the original ↗ on 2023-03-30:

        Your manager is just being petty. Ignore her silly provocations.

2. (historical) Of or relating to the lowest grade or level of school; junior, primary.
3. (obsolete except in set phrases)
   1. Little or small in size.

      Synonyms: Thesaurus:small

      Antonyms: Thesaurus:large

      • c. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC ↗, [Act V, scene v], page 150 ↗, column 1:

        To morrow, and to morrow, and to morrow, / Creepes in this petty pace from day to day, / To the laſt Syllable of Recorded time: / And all our yeſterdayes, haue lighted Fooles / The way to duſty death.

   2. Secondary in importance or rank; minor, subordinate.

      Antonyms: grand, high

      petty cash    petty officer

      • c. 1590–1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Two Gentlemen of Verona”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC ↗, [Act IV, scene i], page 32 ↗, column 2:

        3. Out[law]. […] My ſelfe vvas from Verona baniſhed, / For practiſing to ſteale avvay a Lady, / And heire and Neece, alide vnto the Duke. / […] / 1. Out[law]. And I, for ſuch like petty crimes as theſe.

      • 1655, Thomas Fuller, “Section IV. To the Master, Wardens, and All the Members of the Honourable Company of Mercers, of London.”, in The Church-history of Britain; […], London: […] Iohn Williams […], →OCLC ↗, book, subsection 3–7 (Brown’s Opinions. […]), page 64 ↗:

        With his [Robert Brown's] assistant, Richard Harrison, a petty pedagogue, they inveighed against bishops, ecclesiastical courts, ceremonies, ordination of ministers, and what not; fancying here on earth a platform of a perfect church, without any faults (understand it thus, save those that are made by themselves) therein.

      • 1671, John Milton, “Samson Agonistes, […].”, in Paradise Regain'd. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is Added, Samson Agonistes, London: […] J[ohn] M[acock] for John Starkey […], →OCLC ↗, page 37 ↗, lines 530–532:

        Fearleſs of danger, like a petty God / I walk'd about admir'd of all and dreaded / On hoſtile ground, none daring my affront.

      • 1711 June 1 (Gregorian calendar), [Joseph Addison], “MONDAY, May 21, 1711”, in The Spectator, number 70; republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a New Edition, […], volume I, New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton & Company, 1853, →OCLC ↗, page 425 ↗:

        At the time the poem we are now treating of was written, the dissensions of the barons, who were then so many petty princes, ran very high, whether they quarrelled among themselves, or with their neighbours, and produced unspeakable calamities to the country.

        The spelling has been modernized.

      • 1711 December 8 (Gregorian calendar), [Jonathan Swift], The Conduct of the Allies, and of the Late Ministry, in Beginning and Carrying on the Present War, 4th edition, London: […] John Morphew […], published 1711, →OCLC ↗, page 53 ↗:

        Can there an Example be given in the whole Courſe of this War, where we have treated the pettieſt Prince, with whom we had to deal, in ſo contemptuous a manner?

      • 1750, [Charles-Louis] de Secondat, Baron [de La Brède et] de Montesquieu, “Of the Communication of Power”, in Thomas Nugent, transl., The Spirit of Laws. […], volume I, London: […] J[ohn] Nourse, and P. Vaillant, […], →OCLC ↗, book V (That the Laws Given by the Legislature Ought to be Relative to the Nature of Government), page 94 ↗:

        Under moderate governments, the law is prudent in all its parts, perfectly well known, and the pettieſt magiſtrates are capable of following it. But in a deſpotic ſtate where the prince's will is the law, though the prince were wiſe, yet how could the magiſtrate follow a will he does not know?

      • 1764 December 19 (indicated as 1765), Oliver Goldsmith, The Traveller, or A Prospect of Society. A Poem. […], London: […] J[ohn] Newbery, […], →OCLC ↗, pages 19–20 ↗:

        Fear, pity, juſtice, indignation ſtart, / Tear off reſerve, and bare my ſwelling heart; / 'Till half a patriot, half a coward grown, / I fly from petty tyrants to the throne.

      • 1769, William Blackstone, “Of Principals and Accessories”, in Commentaries on the Laws of England, book IV (Of Public Wrongs), Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] Clarendon Press, →OCLC ↗, page 36 ↗:

        [I]n treſpaſs all are principals, becauſe the law, quae de minimis non curat, does not deſcend to diſtinguiſh the different ſhades of guilt in petty miſdemeſnors. It is a maxim, that acceſſorius ſequitur naturam ſui principalis: and therefore an acceſſory cannot be guilty of a higher crime than his principal; being only puniſhed, as a partaker of his guilt. So that if a ſervant inſtigates a ſtranger to kill his maſter, this being murder in the ſtranger as principal, of courſe the ſervant is acceſſory only to the crime of murder; though, had he been preſent and aſſiſting, he would have been guilty as principal of petty treaſon, and the ſtranger of murder.

      • 1824, Geoffrey Crayon [pseudonym; Washington Irving], “Buckthorne, or The Young Man of Great Expectations”, in Tales of a Traveller, part 2 (Buckthorne and His Friends), Philadelphia, Pa.: H[enry] C[harles] Carey & I[saac] Lea, […], →OCLC ↗, pages 116–117 ↗:

        The ire of the monarch was not to be appeased. He had suffered in his person, and he had suffered in his purse; his dignity too had been insulted, and that went for something; for dignity is always more irascible the more petty the potentate.

• French: petit, insignifiant, mesquin
• German: gering, geringfügig, klein, kleinlich, unbedeutend, unwichtig
• Italian: meschino, gretto
• Portuguese: fútil, insignificante, pequeno, mesquinho
• Russian: пустячный
• Spanish: quisquilloso, tiquismiquis, melindroso, de pitiminí, detallista, minucioso, mezquino

petty (plural petties)

1. (dialectal, euphemistic, informal) An outbuilding used as a lavatory; an outhouse, a privy.

   Synonyms: Thesaurus:outhouse

2. (historical) A class or school for young schoolboys.

   (class) Synonyms: petty form

   (school) Synonyms: ABC, petty school

   • 1854, Arthur Pendennis [pseudonym; William Makepeace Thackeray], “In which the Author and the Hero Resume Their Acquaintance”, in The Newcomes: Memoirs of a Most Respectable Family, volume I, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], →OCLC ↗, page 33 ↗:

     [S]uch a difference of age between lads at a public school puts intimacy out of the question—a junior ensign being no more familiar with the commander-in-chief at the Horse-Guards; or a barrister on his first circuit with my Lord Chief Justice on the bench, than the newly-breeched infant in the Petties with a senior boy in a tailed coat.

3. (obsolete, chiefly, in the plural, also, figuratively) A little schoolboy, either in grade or size.
   • 1659, T[itus] Livius [i.e., Livy], “[Book III]”, in Philemon Holland, transl., The Romane Historie […], London: […] W. Hunt, for George Sawbridge, […], →OCLC ↗, page 97 ↗:

     As the maiden therefore vvas comming into the market place, (for there vvere the ſchools for peties kept, of reading and vvriting) the Decemvirs man (a broker to ſerve his maſters luſt) laid hold upon her, avovving that ſhe vvas his bond-ſervants daughter, and therefore his bond-maid: commanding her to follovv him, and threatning beſides, that if ſhe made any ſtays, he vvould have her avvay perforce.

• (America) IPA: /ˈpɛti/, [ˈpɛɾi]

1. Surname.