petty argument
1
3.0
- noun
- /ˈpɛti ˈɑrɡjʊmənt/
:
discusión trivial
- You can't have these petty arguments, you understand?
Examples
-
The meeting quickly turned sour due to a petty argument over seating arrangements.
-
There was a petty argument: whether the Chinese would be fiercer adversaries than the Americans.
Fiction book (2002) -
Even though the accommodationism debate started as something entirely different, do you think it's boiled down to a petty argument about tone?
Blog text (28) -
I'm not married, and I hope to never get to the point of a petty argument blowing up into a sleep-in-the-car fight, but I do understand the concept of little things growing into a huge "Is this the end?" issue because you're married.
Blog text (4) -
We found an open-minded philosophy, and we sullied this philosophy with immaturity and petty arguments over tactics.
Blog text (12) -
This is not the time, place, or forum for starting a petty argument, so I'll abstain, except to say that I've noticed a tendency by those who participated to claim superior knowledge and the moral high ground for some reason.
Blog text (10) -
Don't let a petty argument ruin your friendship; some things are not worth fighting about.
-
They're always bickering about the smallest things, like a petty argument over who left the lights on.
Synonyms
617
2.3
A disagreement between people that is often angry
138
8.0
A complaint or argument between people
42
3.9
Repeated small arguments about unimportant things that annoy people
27
4.2
A noisy argument about something unimportant
24
3.7
A short, unimportant argument between people
5
7.2
A short angry argument between people that is not very serious
5
7.5
A lot of fuss about something unimportant
3
7.9
Too much fuss about a small, unimportant thing
1
9.9
A short angry argument about something not important
1
8.2
Paying too much attention to small unimportant details in a debate
Arguing about small unimportant details to avoid making a decision
A very angry, petty argument with personal insults
A silly, small argument that people make much bigger
Antonyms
How Important
384
3.0
1
3.0
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase is a straightforward adjective + noun composition: 'petty' (trivial) modifies 'argument' (a disagreement), so the combined meaning 'a trivial disagreement' is directly derivable from the constituents. This compositional pattern is common cross-linguistically and follows regular English modification rules, so a B1 learner who knows both words will understand it.
Etymology
Petty argument comes from the word petty, which once meant 'small' or 'little', and argument meaning a disagreement. Imagine two people arguing about a tiny thing like a lost pen; that's why petty argument now means 'a disagreement about something unimportant'.