Of all the many millions of things that I might do, the things that are worth doing are but a paltry few.
Source: tatoeba (2053889)
Paltry
//ˈpɔltɹi//
Synonyms for "paltry" (219 found)
Ranked by relevance and common usage.
Closest matches (44)
Strong matches (66)
Related words (109)
ornerypaleparsimoniouspatheticpeanutpettypicayunepiddlingpimpingpitiablepitifulpokypoorpunkpunyrankreptilianrubbishysadscabby
Show 69 more words
scantscantyscrawnyscrimpscrimpyscrubbyscruffyscummyscurvyscuzzysecond bestsecond classsecond ratesecond-bestsecond-classseedysetshabbyshoddyskimpskimpysleazyslenderslightslimsmallsorrysparesparingspartansqualidstarvationstingystintedstraitenedstuntedsubsistencetackytattytenuousthinthird classthird ratethird-classthird-ratetinnytinytrashytrivialtrumperytwo-for-a-centtwo-for-a-pennytwopennytwopenny-halfpennyunchivalrousunconsideredungenerousunimportantunmentionableunnourishingunnutritiousunworthyvainvaluelessvilewateredwateryworthlesswretched
Adjective(19 words)
Adjective(1 words)
Related word relations
OpenGloss and ConceptNet supply richer edges like generalizations, collocations, and derivations.
Translations
72 translations across 20 languages.
Ancient Greek
1 entries- φαῦλος adj (trashy, trivial, of little value)
Arabic
1 entries- بَخْس adj (meager; worthless; pitiful; trifling)
Bulgarian
4 entries- дребен adj (trashy, trivial, of little value)
- жалък adj (meager; worthless; pitiful; trifling)
- незначителен adj (trashy, trivial, of little value)
- нищожен adj (meager; worthless; pitiful; trifling)
Chinese Mandarin
1 entries- 無價值 /无价值 adj (trashy, trivial, of little value)
Czech
4 entries- mizerný adj (trashy, trivial, of little value)
- mizerný adj (meager; worthless; pitiful; trifling)
- nicotný adj (meager; worthless; pitiful; trifling)
- ubohý adj (trashy, trivial, of little value)
Dutch
4 entries- armzalig adj (meager; worthless; pitiful; trifling)
- beklagenswaardig adj (meager; worthless; pitiful; trifling)
- meelijwekkend adj (meager; worthless; pitiful; trifling)
- pietluttig adj (trashy, trivial, of little value)
Finnish
2 entries- mitätön adj (meager; worthless; pitiful; trifling)
- surkea adj (trashy, trivial, of little value)
French
3 entries- dérisoire adj (trashy, trivial, of little value)
- dérisoire adj (meager; worthless; pitiful; trifling)
- misérable adj (meager; worthless; pitiful; trifling)
German
4 entries- armselig adj (meager; worthless; pitiful; trifling)
- dürftig adj (trashy, trivial, of little value)
- geringfügig adj (trashy, trivial, of little value)
- mager adj (meager; worthless; pitiful; trifling)
Greek
4 entries- ασήμαντος adj (trashy, trivial, of little value)
- ισχνός adj (meager; worthless; pitiful; trifling)
- μηδαμινός adj (trashy, trivial, of little value)
- μηδαμινός adj (meager; worthless; pitiful; trifling)
Italian
4 entries- insignificante adj (trashy, trivial, of little value)
- insufficiente adj (trashy, trivial, of little value)
- irrisorio adj (trashy, trivial, of little value)
- miserabile adj (trashy, trivial, of little value)
Japanese
2 entries- 僅かばかりの adj (trashy, trivial, of little value)
- 取るに足らぬ adj (meager; worthless; pitiful; trifling)
Māori
4 entries- hauarea adj (trashy, trivial, of little value)
- hauwarea adj (trashy, trivial, of little value)
- koroiti adj (trashy, trivial, of little value)
- kūrapa adj (trashy, trivial, of little value)
Norwegian
1 entries- ussel adj (trashy, trivial, of little value)
Polish
2 entries- kiepski adj (trashy, trivial, of little value)
- marny adj (meager; worthless; pitiful; trifling)
Portuguese
4 entries- insignificante adj (trashy, trivial, of little value)
- pobre adj (trashy, trivial, of little value)
- pífio adj (trashy, trivial, of little value)
- pífio adj (meager; worthless; pitiful; trifling)
Russian
4 entries- жа́лкий adj (meager; worthless; pitiful; trifling)
- незначи́тельный adj (trashy, trivial, of little value)
- ничтожный adj (trashy, trivial, of little value)
- презренный adj (meager; worthless; pitiful; trifling)
Serbo-Croatian
4 entries- bedan adj (meager; worthless; pitiful; trifling)
- bijedan adj (meager; worthless; pitiful; trifling)
- mizeran adj (meager; worthless; pitiful; trifling)
- tričav adj (trashy, trivial, of little value)
Spanish
4 entries- despreciable adj (meager; worthless; pitiful; trifling)
- exiguo adj (meager; worthless; pitiful; trifling)
- mesquino adj (meager; worthless; pitiful; trifling)
- mezquino adj (meager; worthless; pitiful; trifling)
Swedish
2 entries- futtig adj (meager; worthless; pitiful; trifling)
- ynklig adj (meager; worthless; pitiful; trifling)
Sample sentences
15 total sentences available.
The electric things have their life too. Paltry as those lives are.
Source: tatoeba (5663632)
They apologize for the paltry offering and hope you'll accept $50,000.
Source: tatoeba (9003481)
Why do you want to work for a paltry sum?
Source: tatoeba (9003485)
Showing 4 of 15 available sentences.
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.