paltry

adjective

pal·​try ˈpȯl-trē How to pronounce paltry (audio)
paltrier; paltriest
1
: inferior, trashy
built paltry houses unfit for occupancy
2
: mean, despicable
a paltry trick
3
: trivial
a paltry excuse
they in their greatness don't have to bother with such paltry restrictionsVanessa Feltz
4
: meager, measly
made a paltry donation
Sales have increased by a paltry two percent.
paltriness noun

Did you know?

Before "paltry" was an adjective, it was a noun meaning "trash." That now obsolete noun in turn came from "palt" or "pelt," dialect terms meaning "a piece of coarse cloth," or broadly, "trash." The adjective "paltry" first meant "trashy," but currently has a number of senses, all generally meaning "no good." A "paltry house" might be run-down and unfit for occupancy; a "paltry trick" is a trick that is low-down and dirty; a "paltry excuse" is a trivial one; and a "paltry sum" is small and insufficient.

Examples of paltry in a Sentence

a paltry, underhanded scheme to get someone fired the hotel's shabby, outdated exercise room was its paltry attempt at a health spa
Recent Examples on the Web In an era when many walk into first dates armed with only the paltry details on a Hinge or Tinder profile, crowdsourcing information within the groups has proved popular. Marisa Iati, Washington Post, 2 Mar. 2024 Ukraine’s counteroffensive last year resulted in paltry territorial gains. Shashank Joshi, Foreign Affairs, 20 Feb. 2024 Employee happiness for nonprofit workers dipped in response to a year of paltry donations and staffing issues as companies struggled to retain workers, explains BambooHR. Chloe Berger, Fortune, 27 Feb. 2024 Madame Web will end this weekend at about $77 million after two weekends in release, but that comes after a six-day opening across President’s Day weekend, starting the preceding Wednesday and carrying through the holiday weekend into Monday, but generating a paltry $26 million domestic. Mark Hughes, Forbes, 25 Feb. 2024 The rationale behind each cruelty is delicately evoked and domestic instability, Hong Kong’s cutthroat property market, and its paltry social support systems become the real villains. Jessica Kiang, Variety, 25 Feb. 2024 Look at the selections from France, Italy, and California and compare them to the paltry Spanish choices. Mike Desimone and Jeff Jenssen, Robb Report, 19 Feb. 2024 The Hotline’s official Over/Under for total number of Pac-12 bids — both automatic and at-large — is a paltry 2.5. Jon Wilner, The Mercury News, 19 Feb. 2024 Got burning questions regarding this morning’s paltry snow? A. Camden Walker, Washington Post, 17 Feb. 2024

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'paltry.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

obsolete paltry trash, from dialect palt, pelt piece of coarse cloth, trash; akin to Middle Low German palte rag

First Known Use

1565, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of paltry was in 1565

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Dictionary Entries Near paltry

Cite this Entry

“Paltry.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/paltry. Accessed 18 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

paltry

adjective
pal·​try ˈpȯl-trē How to pronounce paltry (audio)
paltrier; paltriest
1
: petty sense 3, mean
a paltry trick
2
: trivial sense 2, worthless
a paltry sum
paltriness noun

More from Merriam-Webster on paltry

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