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paltry - Wiktionary, the free dictionary

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

From Middle Low German paltrig (“ragged, rubbishy, worthless”), from palter, palte (“cloth, rag, shred”), from Old Saxon *paltro, *palto (“cloth, rag”), from Proto-Germanic *paltrô, *paltô (“scrap, rag, patch”). Of uncertain ultimate origin, but perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *polto- (“cloth”), see also Proto-Slavic *poltьno (“linen”).

Cognate with Low German palterig (“ragged, torn”), dialectal German palterig (“paltry”). Compare also Low German palte (“rag”), West Frisian palt (“rag”), Saterland Frisian Palte (“strip; band; tape”), dialectal German Palter (“rag”), Danish pjalt (“rag, tatter”), Swedish palta (“rag”). See also palterly.

paltry (comparative paltrier, superlative paltriest)

  1. Trashy, trivial, of little value.
    Synonyms: insignificant, unimportant, petty, trivial, beggarly

    This is indeed a paltry flyer about a silly product.

    She made some paltry excuse and left.

    • 1921, Edward Sapir, Language: An introduction to the study of speech:

      There are a great many languages, like Eskimo and Nootka and, aside from paltry exceptions, the Semitic languages, that cannot compound radical elements.

  2. Of little monetary worth.
    Synonyms: meager, worthless, pitiful, trifling

    Could someone hope to survive on such a paltry income?

    Student grants these days are paltry, and many students have to take out loans.

    • c. 1589–1590 (date written), Christopher Marlo[we], edited by Tho[mas] Heywood, The Famous Tragedy of the Rich Iew of Malta. […], London: […] I[ohn] B[eale] for Nicholas Vavasour, […], published 1633, →OCLC, Act I:

      As for those Samnites, and the men of Uz,
      That bought my Spanish oils and wines of Greece,
      Here have I purs'd their paltry silverlings.
      Fie, what a trouble 'tis to count this trash!

    • 2022 July 8, Daniel Boffey, “Collapsing public support suggests Brexit is anything but done”, in The Guardian‎[1]:

      Meanwhile, the trade deal has left Britain’s fishing communities screaming betrayal, unhappy with their paltry gains and facing expensive barriers to export what they have caught.

  3. Despicable; contemptibly unimportant.

    a paltry coward

    • 1928, William Butler Yeats, Sailing to Byzantium:

      "An aged man is but a paltry thing, / A tattered coat upon a stick"

with nouns

  • paltry sum
  • paltry rate
  • paltry amount
  • paltry number
  • paltry price
  • paltry salary
  • paltry wages
  • paltry fellow
  • paltry pay
  • paltry excuse
  • paltry income
  • paltry gain
  • paltry compensation

trashy, trivial, of little value

meager; worthless; pitiful; trifling