Paltry
adjective
Small or not enough in amount, insignificant.
He was paid a paltry sum for his work.
Often appears as...
- a paltry sum
- a paltry amount
Usage tips
Disapproving
adjective
Not deserving consideration, insignificant.
Such paltry excuses won't be accepted.
Often appears as...
- a paltry excuse
- a paltry effort
Usage tips
Disapproving
adjective
Small or not enough in amount, insignificant.
He was paid a paltry sum for his work.
Often appears as...
- a paltry sum
- a paltry amount
Usage tips
Disapproving
adjective
Not deserving consideration, insignificant.
Such paltry excuses won't be accepted.
Often appears as...
- a paltry excuse
- a paltry effort
Usage tips
Disapproving
Definition 1 of 2
Pro Tip 1/3Strength of Amount
Use 'paltry' to emphasize the smallness of an amount to show it’s disappointingly inadequate.
The charity received only a paltry sum of donations.
Pro Tip 2/3Not Generous
'Paltry' suggests that the amount is less generous than expected or deserved.
She left a paltry tip for the excellent service.
Pro Tip 3/3Expressing Disapproval
When you call something 'paltry,' it conveys a sense of disapproval or scorn.
He dismissed their offer as a paltry gesture.
Pro Tip 1/3Strength of Amount
Use 'paltry' to emphasize the smallness of an amount to show it’s disappointingly inadequate.
The charity received only a paltry sum of donations.
Pro Tip 2/3Not Generous
'Paltry' suggests that the amount is less generous than expected or deserved.
She left a paltry tip for the excellent service.
Pro Tip 3/3Expressing Disapproval
When you call something 'paltry,' it conveys a sense of disapproval or scorn.
He dismissed their offer as a paltry gesture.
Pro Tip 1/3Strength of Amount
Use 'paltry' to emphasize the smallness of an amount to show it’s disappointingly inadequate.
The charity received only a paltry sum of donations.
Pro Tip 2/3Not Generous
'Paltry' suggests that the amount is less generous than expected or deserved.
She left a paltry tip for the excellent service.
Pro Tip 3/3Expressing Disapproval
When you call something 'paltry,' it conveys a sense of disapproval or scorn.
He dismissed their offer as a paltry gesture.
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Video examples
The case against "good"...
I won't take any more of this formless, lifeless description. I will not take these lies, and neither should you. A doctor asks you how you feel. "I feel bad." Heresy! The doctor, based on this paltry report, could conclude that you have brain cancer or the flu or rabies.
Video examples
How big is the ocean? -...
dwarfing tiny Everest's paltry peak by well over a kilometer. Then, since we're picking on poor Everest, let's consider the world's deepest canyon, the Challenger Deep, existing 11 kilometers below the ocean's surface, some six times deeper than the Grand Canyon.
Video examples
Why do blood types...
perhaps as protection against blood born diseases, or due to random genetic drift. Finally, different species have different sets of antigens. In fact, the four main blood types shared by us apes seem paltry in comparison to the thirteen types found in dogs.
Video examples
Tristram Stuart: The...
that amount of carbon. If we feed our food waste which is the current government favorite way of getting rid of food waste, to anaerobic digestion, which turns food waste into gas to produce electricity, you save a paltry 448 kilograms of carbon dioxide
Video examples
The genius of...
it's a solid metal at room temperature, but it melts at a paltry 30 degrees Celcius, 85 degrees Fahrenheit. It melts in your mouth and in your hand. Not only did Mendeleev completely nail gallium, he predicted other elements that were unknown at the
Video examples
What's wrong with what...
We were told, we were assured, that the more meat and dairy and poultry we ate, the healthier we'd be. No. Overconsumption of animals, and of course, junk food, is the problem, along with our paltry consumption of plants.
Video examples
What are the most...
They don't get to influence the decisions we make today. They're voiceless. And that means we still spend a paltry amount on these nuclear nonproliferation, geoengineering, biorisk, artificial intelligence safety.
Video examples
Why you think you're...
Which makes you What does it say about the human mind that we can find such paltry evidence to be compelling enough to convict a man? Well, this is a case of what scientists call "motivated reasoning."
Video examples
The Biggest Dinosaur...
When born, the hatchlings themselves weigh a paltry five kilograms and need to fend for themselves immediately.
Video examples
Ferocious Dinosaur...
tons when born the hatchlings themselves weigh a paltry 5 kilograms and need to fend for themselves
Video examples
The case against "good"...
I won't take any more of this formless, lifeless description. I will not take these lies, and neither should you. A doctor asks you how you feel. "I feel bad." Heresy! The doctor, based on this paltry report, could conclude that you have brain cancer or the flu or rabies.
Video examples
How big is the ocean? -...
dwarfing tiny Everest's paltry peak by well over a kilometer. Then, since we're picking on poor Everest, let's consider the world's deepest canyon, the Challenger Deep, existing 11 kilometers below the ocean's surface, some six times deeper than the Grand Canyon.
Video examples
Why do blood types...
perhaps as protection against blood born diseases, or due to random genetic drift. Finally, different species have different sets of antigens. In fact, the four main blood types shared by us apes seem paltry in comparison to the thirteen types found in dogs.
Video examples
Tristram Stuart: The...
that amount of carbon. If we feed our food waste which is the current government favorite way of getting rid of food waste, to anaerobic digestion, which turns food waste into gas to produce electricity, you save a paltry 448 kilograms of carbon dioxide
Video examples
The genius of...
it's a solid metal at room temperature, but it melts at a paltry 30 degrees Celcius, 85 degrees Fahrenheit. It melts in your mouth and in your hand. Not only did Mendeleev completely nail gallium, he predicted other elements that were unknown at the
Video examples
What's wrong with what...
We were told, we were assured, that the more meat and dairy and poultry we ate, the healthier we'd be. No. Overconsumption of animals, and of course, junk food, is the problem, along with our paltry consumption of plants.
Video examples
What are the most...
They don't get to influence the decisions we make today. They're voiceless. And that means we still spend a paltry amount on these nuclear nonproliferation, geoengineering, biorisk, artificial intelligence safety.
Video examples
Why you think you're...
Which makes you What does it say about the human mind that we can find such paltry evidence to be compelling enough to convict a man? Well, this is a case of what scientists call "motivated reasoning."
Video examples
The Biggest Dinosaur...
When born, the hatchlings themselves weigh a paltry five kilograms and need to fend for themselves immediately.
Video examples
Ferocious Dinosaur...
tons when born the hatchlings themselves weigh a paltry 5 kilograms and need to fend for themselves
Example 1 of 10
Quote examples
Joseph Howe
Canadian Politician
My books are very few, but then the world is before me - a library open to all - from which poverty of purse cannot exclude me - in which the meanest and most paltry volume is sure to furnish something to amuse, if not to instruct and improve.
Quote examples
Edgar Allan Poe
American Poet
There is something in the unselfish and self-sacrificing love of a brute, which goes directly to the heart of him who has had frequent occasion to test the paltry friendship and gossamer fidelity of mere Man.
Quote examples
Tracy K. Smith
American Poet
I love the sense of looking at the sad, paltry, and yet very familiar spectacle that we must make from moment to moment in our lives, and in our frenzy, as something that's as out there as alien life.
Quote examples
P. J. O'Rourke
American Comedian
Politics are for foreigners with their endless wrongs and paltry rights. Politics are a lousy way to get things done. Politics are, like God's infinite mercy, a last resort.
Quote examples
William Butler Yeats
Irish Poet
An aged man is but a paltry thing, a tattered coat upon a stick, unless soul clap its hands and sing, and louder sing for every tatter in its mortal dress.
Quote examples
Demosthenes
Greek Statesman
You cannot have a proud and chivalrous spirit if your conduct is mean and paltry; for whatever a man's actions are, such must be his spirit.
Quote examples
John Updike
American Novelist
From infancy on, we are all spies; the shame is not this but that the secrets to be discovered are so paltry and few.
Quote examples
D. H. Lawrence
English Writer
So long as you don't feel life's paltry and a miserable business, the rest doesn't matter, happiness or unhappiness.
Quote examples
Sam Waterston
American Actor
There is no problem that is not improved by effort, and no effort that is too paltry to be worth undertaking.
Quote examples
Honore de Balzac
French Novelist
Death unites as well as separates; it silences all paltry feeling.
Quote examples
Joseph Howe
Canadian Politician
My books are very few, but then the world is before me - a library open to all - from which poverty of purse cannot exclude me - in which the meanest and most paltry volume is sure to furnish something to amuse, if not to instruct and improve.
Quote examples
Edgar Allan Poe
American Poet
There is something in the unselfish and self-sacrificing love of a brute, which goes directly to the heart of him who has had frequent occasion to test the paltry friendship and gossamer fidelity of mere Man.
Quote examples
Tracy K. Smith
American Poet
I love the sense of looking at the sad, paltry, and yet very familiar spectacle that we must make from moment to moment in our lives, and in our frenzy, as something that's as out there as alien life.
Quote examples
P. J. O'Rourke
American Comedian
Politics are for foreigners with their endless wrongs and paltry rights. Politics are a lousy way to get things done. Politics are, like God's infinite mercy, a last resort.
Quote examples
William Butler Yeats
Irish Poet
An aged man is but a paltry thing, a tattered coat upon a stick, unless soul clap its hands and sing, and louder sing for every tatter in its mortal dress.
Quote examples
Demosthenes
Greek Statesman
You cannot have a proud and chivalrous spirit if your conduct is mean and paltry; for whatever a man's actions are, such must be his spirit.
Quote examples
John Updike
American Novelist
From infancy on, we are all spies; the shame is not this but that the secrets to be discovered are so paltry and few.
Quote examples
D. H. Lawrence
English Writer
So long as you don't feel life's paltry and a miserable business, the rest doesn't matter, happiness or unhappiness.
Quote examples
Sam Waterston
American Actor
There is no problem that is not improved by effort, and no effort that is too paltry to be worth undertaking.
Quote examples
Honore de Balzac
French Novelist
Death unites as well as separates; it silences all paltry feeling.
Example 1 of 10
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