pettiness

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

More broadly the play is a tart vivisection of human pettiness and venality, as one by one the characters’ prejudices, peccadilloes and blinkered views are exposed.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 23, 2026

Perhaps Melania is just matching her husband’s destructive pettiness, in which case she’s joined an allegedly growing number of women of means who opt for quiet quitting their unhappy marriages rather than divorcing.

From Salon • Dec. 11, 2025

MedMen was so afraid of me and the pettiness and my vitriol that they overnighted us a check.

From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 13, 2024

The sheer pettiness of these gripes—the fact that these men continue to filter justice through their small, round, grudge-colored glasses—is what is breathtaking here.

From Slate • May 17, 2024

It rises inside me, unabated by the dim pettiness of university politics or mind-numbing everyday rules.

From "Shadowshaper" by Daniel José Older