Meanings
verb
- gerundparticiplepresentpresent participle and gerund of pettifog
nounpettifogging (plural pettifoggings)
plural pettifoggings
- pettifoggery
[…] lost in such a jungle of intrigues, pettifoggings, treacheries, diplomacies domestic and foreign […]
1858–1865, Thomas Carlyle, History of Friedrich II. of Prussia, Called Frederick the Great, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: Chapman and Hall, […], →OCLC1 more example
It's lots of other pettifogging, degrading things. Things you have to endure, things you never have to think about until they happen to you.
1967, Agatha Christie, Endless Night
Synonyms & antonyms
Cite this entry
APA
pettifogging. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pettifogging
MLA
“pettifogging.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pettifogging. Accessed November 3, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “pettifogging,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pettifogging.
Source: pettifogging on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.