Pettiness
noun
The quality of being unimportant or trivial.
Her pettiness was evident in the trivial issues she chose to argue about.
Often appears as...
- show pettiness
- petty dispute
Usage tips
Disapproving
noun
The quality of being narrow-minded or holding a small-minded outlook.
His pettiness led him to ignore the broader implications of the decision.
Often appears as...
- mindless pettiness
- overcome pettiness
Usage tips
Disapproving
noun
The quality of being unimportant or trivial.
Her pettiness was evident in the trivial issues she chose to argue about.
Often appears as...
- show pettiness
- petty dispute
Usage tips
Disapproving
noun
The quality of being narrow-minded or holding a small-minded outlook.
His pettiness led him to ignore the broader implications of the decision.
Often appears as...
- mindless pettiness
- overcome pettiness
Usage tips
Disapproving
Definition 1 of 2
Pro Tip 1/3Informal Tone
Pettiness is often used informally to indicate someone's minor concerns or behaviors.
She got caught up in the pettiness of office gossip.
Pro Tip 2/3Negative Implication
Using 'pettiness' usually implies a negative judgment of someone's actions or attitudes.
I can't believe his pettiness; he's upset over one unreturned pencil.
Pro Tip 3/3Unnecessary Conflict
'Pettiness' implies disputes or disagreements that could be seen as insignificant or avoidable.
Their constant bickering over who arrived first is just pettiness.
Pro Tip 1/3Informal Tone
Pettiness is often used informally to indicate someone's minor concerns or behaviors.
She got caught up in the pettiness of office gossip.
Pro Tip 2/3Negative Implication
Using 'pettiness' usually implies a negative judgment of someone's actions or attitudes.
I can't believe his pettiness; he's upset over one unreturned pencil.
Pro Tip 3/3Unnecessary Conflict
'Pettiness' implies disputes or disagreements that could be seen as insignificant or avoidable.
Their constant bickering over who arrived first is just pettiness.
Pro Tip 1/3Informal Tone
Pettiness is often used informally to indicate someone's minor concerns or behaviors.
She got caught up in the pettiness of office gossip.
Pro Tip 2/3Negative Implication
Using 'pettiness' usually implies a negative judgment of someone's actions or attitudes.
I can't believe his pettiness; he's upset over one unreturned pencil.
Pro Tip 3/3Unnecessary Conflict
'Pettiness' implies disputes or disagreements that could be seen as insignificant or avoidable.
Their constant bickering over who arrived first is just pettiness.
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Video examples
Jonathan Haidt:...
They all want to find a cause or calling that they can throw themselves into. They're all searching for their staircase. And that gives me hope because people are not purely selfish. Most people long to overcome pettiness and become part of something larger.
Video examples
Jonathan Haidt:...
They all want to find a cause or calling that they can throw themselves into. They're all searching for their staircase. And that gives me hope because people are not purely selfish. Most people long to overcome pettiness and become part of something larger.
Example 1 of 1
Quote examples
Peter Navarro
American Economist
It's that evil twin part of me that always comes out at the absolute wrong political moment, like a demon possessing my soul; it exhibits itself as an arrogance or disdain or obnoxiousness or meanness or anger or pettiness - all traits that are lethal in politics.
Quote examples
Chris Christie
American Politician
We believe - we believe that, if we tell the people the truth, that they will act bigger than the pettiness we see in Washington, D.C. We believe it is possible to forge bipartisan compromise, and stand up for our conservative principles.
Quote examples
Margaret J. Wheatley
American Writer
In our daily life, we encounter people who are angry, deceitful, intent only on satisfying their own needs. There is so much anger, distrust, greed, and pettiness that we are losing our capacity to work well together.
Quote examples
Kevin Costner
American Actor
I believe people who go into politics want to do the right thing. And then they hit a big wall of re-election and the pettiness of politics. In the end, politics gets in the way of the business of people.
Quote examples
Simone Weil
French Philosopher
To write the lives of the great in separating them from their works necessarily ends by above all stressing their pettiness, because it is in their work that they have put the best of themselves.
Quote examples
Martin Heidegger
German Philosopher
If I take death into my life, acknowledge it, and face it squarely, I will free myself from the anxiety of death and the pettiness of life - and only then will I be free to become myself.
Quote examples
Eduardo Galeano
Uruguayan Journalist
Always in all my books I'm trying to reveal or help to reveal the hidden greatness of the small, of the little, of the unknown - and the pettiness of the big.
Quote examples
Camille Grammer
American Celebrity
At the end of the day what matters most is that we can cut through the pettiness and drama when it really counts and support each other.
Quote examples
Jean Racine
French Dramatist
A noble heart cannot suspect in others the pettiness and malice that it has never felt.
Quote examples
Jeetendra
Indian Actor
Life may have plans that will completely overthrow your pettiness.
Quote examples
Peter Navarro
American Economist
It's that evil twin part of me that always comes out at the absolute wrong political moment, like a demon possessing my soul; it exhibits itself as an arrogance or disdain or obnoxiousness or meanness or anger or pettiness - all traits that are lethal in politics.
Quote examples
Chris Christie
American Politician
We believe - we believe that, if we tell the people the truth, that they will act bigger than the pettiness we see in Washington, D.C. We believe it is possible to forge bipartisan compromise, and stand up for our conservative principles.
Quote examples
Margaret J. Wheatley
American Writer
In our daily life, we encounter people who are angry, deceitful, intent only on satisfying their own needs. There is so much anger, distrust, greed, and pettiness that we are losing our capacity to work well together.
Quote examples
Kevin Costner
American Actor
I believe people who go into politics want to do the right thing. And then they hit a big wall of re-election and the pettiness of politics. In the end, politics gets in the way of the business of people.
Quote examples
Simone Weil
French Philosopher
To write the lives of the great in separating them from their works necessarily ends by above all stressing their pettiness, because it is in their work that they have put the best of themselves.
Quote examples
Martin Heidegger
German Philosopher
If I take death into my life, acknowledge it, and face it squarely, I will free myself from the anxiety of death and the pettiness of life - and only then will I be free to become myself.
Quote examples
Eduardo Galeano
Uruguayan Journalist
Always in all my books I'm trying to reveal or help to reveal the hidden greatness of the small, of the little, of the unknown - and the pettiness of the big.
Quote examples
Camille Grammer
American Celebrity
At the end of the day what matters most is that we can cut through the pettiness and drama when it really counts and support each other.
Quote examples
Jean Racine
French Dramatist
A noble heart cannot suspect in others the pettiness and malice that it has never felt.
Quote examples
Jeetendra
Indian Actor
Life may have plans that will completely overthrow your pettiness.
Example 1 of 10
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