piddling

[ pid-ling ]
See synonyms for piddling on Thesaurus.com
adjective
  1. amounting to very little; trifling; negligible: a piddling sum of money.

Origin of piddling

1
First recorded in 1550–60; piddle + -ing2

Other words for piddling

Words Nearby piddling

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use piddling in a sentence

  • There are lots of loafers and piddling projects,--but the government's also doing some big jobs, some real construction work.

    Class of '29 | Orrie Lashin and Milo Hastings
  • Here I was prepared to remove the drug scourge forever, and at a piddling cost.

    Revenge | Arthur Porges
  • With this he left us piddling; then within a quarter of an hour came back, and told us the pope-hawk is now to be seen.

  • There were not merely a little piddling dish of salad, a bite of cake, and a dab of ice-cream.

    A Certain Rich Man | William Allen White

British Dictionary definitions for piddling

piddling

/ (ˈpɪdlɪŋ) /


adjective
  1. informal petty; trifling; trivial

Derived forms of piddling

  • piddlingly, adverb

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012