Puny
adjective
Small or weak.
The puppy looks so puny compared to its mother.
Often appears as...
- puny efforts
- puny creature
Usage tips
Disapproving
adjective
Not important or impressive.
Their puny attempts to stop us were laughable.
Often appears as...
- puny attempt
- puny contribution
Usage tips
Disapproving
adjective
Small or weak.
The puppy looks so puny compared to its mother.
Often appears as...
- puny efforts
- puny creature
Usage tips
Disapproving
adjective
Not important or impressive.
Their puny attempts to stop us were laughable.
Often appears as...
- puny attempt
- puny contribution
Usage tips
Disapproving
Definition 1 of 2
Pro Tip 1/3Strength Implication
Use 'puny' to express physical smallness or lack of strength, often with a dismissive tone.
Even with his puny arms, he managed to lift the box.
Pro Tip 2/3Underestimation
When calling something 'puny', it suggests that it's too small or weak to be effective or valuable.
Despite their puny size, ants can carry objects many times their weight.
Pro Tip 3/3Descriptive Scale
'Puny' is relative; what is puny to one may not be to another. Context is key.
To a giant, the large boulder was merely a puny stone.
Pro Tip 1/3Strength Implication
Use 'puny' to express physical smallness or lack of strength, often with a dismissive tone.
Even with his puny arms, he managed to lift the box.
Pro Tip 2/3Underestimation
When calling something 'puny', it suggests that it's too small or weak to be effective or valuable.
Despite their puny size, ants can carry objects many times their weight.
Pro Tip 3/3Descriptive Scale
'Puny' is relative; what is puny to one may not be to another. Context is key.
To a giant, the large boulder was merely a puny stone.
Pro Tip 1/3Strength Implication
Use 'puny' to express physical smallness or lack of strength, often with a dismissive tone.
Even with his puny arms, he managed to lift the box.
Pro Tip 2/3Underestimation
When calling something 'puny', it suggests that it's too small or weak to be effective or valuable.
Despite their puny size, ants can carry objects many times their weight.
Pro Tip 3/3Descriptive Scale
'Puny' is relative; what is puny to one may not be to another. Context is key.
To a giant, the large boulder was merely a puny stone.
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Video examples
Steven Pinker and...
and threaten our species with weapons of mass destruction? In this way of thinking, it's character and conscience, not cold-hearted calculation, that will save us. Besides, a human being is not a brain on a stick. My fellow psychologists have shown that we're led by our bodies and our emotions and use our puny powers of reason
Video examples
Focus Expert - Brian...
visual image there's just far too much information for our puny brains to process or inattentional blindness has the phenomenon where an unexpected object no matter how salient it is that's right in front of us if we're not expecting it and if we're if our attention is otherwise engaged but we
Video examples
Super Suction PIPE National...
hooked up the crane but only to the box which has absolutely nothing holding it to the car except from puny household duct tape if I'm right when I switch on the vacuums they're pulling power will keep the Box stuck tight to the roof of the car even when the crane has raised the box
Video examples
Is the world getting...
The scope of language has been augmented by the written, printed and electronic word. Our circle of sympathy has been expanded by history, journalism and the narrative arts. And our puny rational faculties have been multiplied by the norms and institutions of reason,
Video examples
Why can't some birds...
A dingo is prowling in the shadows, and fruit won’t satisfy his appetite. The birds flee to safety all but the cassowary, who can’t clear the ground on her puny wings. Instead, she attacks, sending the dingo running for cover
Video examples
Amory Lovins: A 40-year...
"Only puny secrets need protection. Big discoveries are protected by public incredulity." Now combine the electricity and oil revolutions, both driven by modern efficiency, and you get the really big reinventing fire,
Video examples
John Wesley Powell: From...
mile in the depths of the earth and the great river shrinks into insignificance as it tosses its angry angry waves at the walls and cliffs that rise to the world above its waves are but puny
Video examples
Can you solve the sea...
Your city’s puny army is hopelessly outmatched. You think back to the legends. In the stories, the ruler of the city saved his people by feeding the creatures a ransom of pearls.
Video examples
Expedition Everest: The...
we're pretty puny in the face of a mountain that doesn't always tolerate humanity so well it's really quite a daunting task for our team but we're up for it
Video examples
Leopards & Humans:...
considering how soft and puny we are it is remarkable that most of them stick to eating livestock
Video examples
Steven Pinker and...
and threaten our species with weapons of mass destruction? In this way of thinking, it's character and conscience, not cold-hearted calculation, that will save us. Besides, a human being is not a brain on a stick. My fellow psychologists have shown that we're led by our bodies and our emotions and use our puny powers of reason
Video examples
Focus Expert - Brian...
visual image there's just far too much information for our puny brains to process or inattentional blindness has the phenomenon where an unexpected object no matter how salient it is that's right in front of us if we're not expecting it and if we're if our attention is otherwise engaged but we
Video examples
Super Suction PIPE National...
hooked up the crane but only to the box which has absolutely nothing holding it to the car except from puny household duct tape if I'm right when I switch on the vacuums they're pulling power will keep the Box stuck tight to the roof of the car even when the crane has raised the box
Video examples
Is the world getting...
The scope of language has been augmented by the written, printed and electronic word. Our circle of sympathy has been expanded by history, journalism and the narrative arts. And our puny rational faculties have been multiplied by the norms and institutions of reason,
Video examples
Why can't some birds...
A dingo is prowling in the shadows, and fruit won’t satisfy his appetite. The birds flee to safety all but the cassowary, who can’t clear the ground on her puny wings. Instead, she attacks, sending the dingo running for cover
Video examples
Amory Lovins: A 40-year...
"Only puny secrets need protection. Big discoveries are protected by public incredulity." Now combine the electricity and oil revolutions, both driven by modern efficiency, and you get the really big reinventing fire,
Video examples
John Wesley Powell: From...
mile in the depths of the earth and the great river shrinks into insignificance as it tosses its angry angry waves at the walls and cliffs that rise to the world above its waves are but puny
Video examples
Can you solve the sea...
Your city’s puny army is hopelessly outmatched. You think back to the legends. In the stories, the ruler of the city saved his people by feeding the creatures a ransom of pearls.
Video examples
Expedition Everest: The...
we're pretty puny in the face of a mountain that doesn't always tolerate humanity so well it's really quite a daunting task for our team but we're up for it
Video examples
Leopards & Humans:...
considering how soft and puny we are it is remarkable that most of them stick to eating livestock
Example 1 of 10
Quote examples
Gilbert Newton Lewis
American Scientist
Sometimes I think that our laboratories are but little earthworks which men build about themselves, and whose puny tops too often conceal from view the Olympian heights; that we who work in these laboratories are but skilled artisans compared with the man who is able to observe and to draw accurate deductions from the world about him.
Quote examples
James D. Watson
American Scientist
As a child, I lived with being punier than other boys in class. The only consolation was my parents' empathy - they encouraged constant trips to the local drugstore for chocolate milk shakes to fatten me up. The shakes made me happy, but still, all through grammar school, other kids shoved me around.
Quote examples
G. Stanley Hall
American Psychologist
Civilization is so hard on the body that some have called it a disease, despite the arts that keep puny bodies alive to a greater average age, and our greater protection from contagious and germ diseases.
Quote examples
Alexander Herzen
Russian Journalist
Science, which cuts its way through the muddy pond of daily life without mingling with it, casts its wealth to right and left, but the puny boatmen do not know how to fish for it.
Quote examples
Andrew Adonis, Baron Adonis
British Politician
Not one single country in the world is dependent for their trade wholly on WTO guidelines - they aren't 'rules,' because the sanctions for breaching the guidelines are puny.
Quote examples
Kurt Vonnegut
American Writer
Puny man can do nothing at all to help or please God Almighty, and Luck is not the hand of God.
Quote examples
Ralph Waldo Emerson
American Philosopher
We are a puny and fickle folk. Avarice, hesitation, and following are our diseases.
Quote examples
Meister Eckhart
German Philosopher
The outward work will never be puny if the inward work is great.
Quote examples
Imelda Marcos
Celebrity
My dreams have become puny with the reality my life has become.
Quote examples
Paul Cezanne
French Artist
A puny body weakens the soul.
Quote examples
Gilbert Newton Lewis
American Scientist
Sometimes I think that our laboratories are but little earthworks which men build about themselves, and whose puny tops too often conceal from view the Olympian heights; that we who work in these laboratories are but skilled artisans compared with the man who is able to observe and to draw accurate deductions from the world about him.
Quote examples
James D. Watson
American Scientist
As a child, I lived with being punier than other boys in class. The only consolation was my parents' empathy - they encouraged constant trips to the local drugstore for chocolate milk shakes to fatten me up. The shakes made me happy, but still, all through grammar school, other kids shoved me around.
Quote examples
G. Stanley Hall
American Psychologist
Civilization is so hard on the body that some have called it a disease, despite the arts that keep puny bodies alive to a greater average age, and our greater protection from contagious and germ diseases.
Quote examples
Alexander Herzen
Russian Journalist
Science, which cuts its way through the muddy pond of daily life without mingling with it, casts its wealth to right and left, but the puny boatmen do not know how to fish for it.
Quote examples
Andrew Adonis, Baron Adonis
British Politician
Not one single country in the world is dependent for their trade wholly on WTO guidelines - they aren't 'rules,' because the sanctions for breaching the guidelines are puny.
Quote examples
Kurt Vonnegut
American Writer
Puny man can do nothing at all to help or please God Almighty, and Luck is not the hand of God.
Quote examples
Ralph Waldo Emerson
American Philosopher
We are a puny and fickle folk. Avarice, hesitation, and following are our diseases.
Quote examples
Meister Eckhart
German Philosopher
The outward work will never be puny if the inward work is great.
Quote examples
Imelda Marcos
Celebrity
My dreams have become puny with the reality my life has become.
Quote examples
Paul Cezanne
French Artist
A puny body weakens the soul.
Example 1 of 10
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