paltry - Definitions from Dictionary.com

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Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This

pal·try

Audio Help [pawl-tree] Pronunciation Key

–adjective, -tri·er, -tri·est.

1.	ridiculously or insultingly small: a paltry sum.

2.	utterly worthless.

3.	mean or contemptible: a paltry coward.

[Origin: 1560–70; < LG paltrig ragged, equiv. to *palter rag (dial. G Palter) + -ig -y¹

]

—Related forms

pal·tri·ly, adverb

pal·tri·ness, noun

—Synonyms 1. minor, inconsiderable, slight, insignificant. See petty.

—Antonyms 1. important, major.

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
paltry

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American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

pal·try Audio Help (pôl'trē) Pronunciation Key
adj. pal·tri·er, pal·tri·est

Lacking in importance or worth. See Synonyms at trivial.
Wretched or contemptible.

[Probably from obsolete and dialectal paltry, trash, perhaps from Low German paltrig, ragged, from palte, rag.]

pal'tri·ly adv., pal'tri·ness n.

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Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
paltry (adj.)

1570, probably adj. use of noun paltry "worthless thing" (1556), associated with dial. palt, pelt "trash," cognate with M.L.G. and E.Fris. palte "rag," M.Du. palt "broken or torn fragment." Cf. Low Ger. paltrig "rubbishy," E.Fris. palterig "ragged, torn."

WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This

paltry
adjective
1.	not worth considering; "he considered the prize too paltry for the lives it must cost"; "piffling efforts"; "a trifling matter" [syn: negligible]
2.	contemptibly small in amount; "a measly tip"; "the company donated a miserable $100 for flood relief"; "a paltry wage"; "almost depleted his miserable store of dried beans" [syn: measly]

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Paltry

Con*tempt"i*ble\, a. 1. Worthy of contempt; deserving of scorn or disdain; mean; vile; despicable. --Milton.

The arguments of tyranny are ascontemptible as its force is dreadful. --Burke.

2. Despised; scorned; neglected; abject. --Locke.

3. Insolent; scornful; contemptuous. [Obs.]

If she should make tender of her love, 't is very possible he 'll scorn it; for the man . . . hath a contemptible spirit. --Shak.

Syn: Despicable; abject; vile; mean; base; paltry; worthless; sorry; pitiful; scurrile. See Contemptuous.

Usage: Contemptible, Despicable, Pitiful, Paltry. Despicable is stronger than contemptible, as despise is stronger than contemn. It implies keen disapprobation, with a mixture of anger. A man is despicable chiefly for low actions which mark his life, such as servility, baseness, or mean adulation. A man is contemptible for mean qualities which distinguish his character, especially those which show him to be weak, foolish, or worthless. Treachery is despicable, egotism is contemptible. Pitiful and paltry are applied to cases which are beneath anger, and are simply contemptible in a high degree.

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