pettifogging
- adjective
- /ˈpɛtɪˌfɔɡɪŋ/
- Archaic
:
quisquilloso
- Instead of addressing the main issue, he kept making pettifogging complaints about the report's formatting.
Examples
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Her pettifogging attitude made every group discussion longer than necessary.
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The manager's pettifogging approach frustrated the team and slowed down the project.
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His pettifogging attitude annoyed everyone in the meeting.
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She always finds pettifogging issues to argue about.
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The lawyer's pettifogging arguments frustrated the judge, who preferred to focus on the main issues of the case.
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Her pettifogging attention to minor errors held up the project's progress unnecessarily.
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During the meeting, his pettifogging questions about the font choice annoyed everyone else.
Synonyms
24
3.9
Easily annoyed and hard to please about small things
4
7.9
Paying too much attention to small unimportant details and criticizing them
4
9.8
Being very picky about small details
1
9.0
Having many small annoying details that make things difficult
Being very careful about small details in a way that annoys others
Giving too much attention to small, unimportant details
Paying too much attention to small, unimportant details
A small annoying problem or worry that does not need serious attention
Too focused on small unimportant details in a discussion
Likely to think too much about small details and make things more complicated
Antonyms
How Petty
Surface Forms
Morphology
Etymology
Pettifogging comes from an old word pettifogger, a cheap lawyer who argued tiny points; that older word joins petty ('small, unimportant') with a part like fog ('to confuse' or 'trick'). So, to be pettifogging is to pay too much attention to small, unimportant details in a way that annoys others.