- 1[usually before noun] small and unimportant synonym minor petty squabbles petty crime/theft (= that is not very serious) a petty criminal/thief a petty bureaucrat/official (= who does not have much power or authority, although they might pretend to)
- 2caring too much about small and unimportant matters, especially when this is unkind to other people synonym small-minded How could you be so petty?
noun [uncountable]See petty in the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary
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