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# petty

«petty» in Mova's school dictionary: **Small and unimportant: petty problems** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples.

### part of speech

adjective (petty, pettier, pettiest)

### meaning for a pupil

1) Small and unimportant: petty problems. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/petty/#m1)

2) Caring too much about small things in a mean way: «Don't be so petty!» [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/petty/#m2)

3) Minor, less serious: petty crime, petty theft. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/petty/#m3)

4) Small, for daily use: petty cash. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/petty/#m4)

### sense in the lessons

In everyday speech: «That's so petty!» = making a fuss about something tiny, being mean. In law: petty theft (stealing small things). In money: petty cash is a small amount kept for small costs. In history: petty kings ruled small lands.

### examples

- Don't be petty — share the crayons. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/petty/#x1)
- They had a petty argument about who sat where. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/petty/#x2)
- Shoplifting a sweet is still petty theft. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/petty/#x3)
- The office keeps petty cash in a tin. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/petty/#x4)
- Toad thought rules were petty. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/petty/#x5)
- It's petty to stay cross about a game. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/petty/#x6)

### note

Comparative: pettier, pettiest. From French petit (small). «Being petty» is a common teenage word.

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «petty» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/petty/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.