paltry
Americanadjective
-
ridiculously or insultingly small.
a paltry sum.
- Synonyms:
- insignificant, slight, inconsiderable, minor
-
utterly worthless.
-
mean or contemptible.
a paltry coward.
adjective
-
insignificant; meagre
-
worthless or petty
Synonym Usage
See petty.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of paltry
First recorded in 1560–70; from Low German paltrig “ragged,” equivalent to *palter “rag” ( dialectal German Palter ) + -ig -y 1
Explanation
A paltry amount is so small it's not even worth thinking about. In the novel Oliver Twist, when Oliver is given a paltry amount of gruel — not nearly enough — he asks, "Please, sir, can I have some more?" Paltry is a laughably small amount — the waiter might chuck a paltry tip in the garbage. If you have only 50 cents in your bank account, it's such a paltry amount, you may as well be broke. It can also mean "not worth considering" or "not important." If you keep breaking your promises, your friends will get sick of your paltry excuses.
Vocabulary lists containing paltry
"The Black Cat" by Edgar Allan Poe
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Paltry Parlance: Synonyms for "Few"
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The Odyssey
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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.
Graduates will enter an economy struggling with weak consumer demand, where year-on-year retail sales contracted for the first time in three years in May, and revenue in the catering sector rose a paltry 0.6 percent.
From Barron's • Jul. 2, 2026
Phil Taylor, director of the charity Open Seas, described the fine as "paltry".
From BBC • Jun. 8, 2026
It still was far from their worst defensive showing of the season, and mostly they couldn’t claw their way back with a paltry 30.8% from the field.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 3, 2026
Prisoners were allowed to slowly build up the paltry offerings of its libraries.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 23, 2026
The sales column for the last few months held paltry sums for curios and a few smaller pieces of furniture.
From "The Red Car to Hollywood" by Jennie Liu
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
