picayunishadj.
/ˌpɪkəˈjuːnɪʃ/, U.S. /ˌpɪkəˈjunɪʃ/, /ˌpɪkiˈjunɪʃ/ North American.
Somewhat picayune; insignificant, trifling, petty, mean. Also: penny-pinching, miserly; pedantic, finicking.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > importance > unimportance > [adjective] > paltry, mean, or contemptible
unworthlyc1230
wretcha1250
seely1297
vilec1320
not worth a cress (kerse)1377
the value of a rushc1380
threadbarec1412
wretched1450
miserable?a1513
rascal1519
prettya1522
not worth a whistlea1529
pegrall1535
plack1539
pelting1540
scald1542
sleeveless1551
baggage1553
paltering1553
piddling1559
twopenny1560
paltry1565
rubbish1565
baggagely1573
pelfish1577
halfpenny1579
palting1579
baubling1581
three-halfpenny1581
pitiful1582
triobolar1585
squirting1589
not worth a lousea1592
hedge1596
cheap1597
peddling1597
dribbling1600
mean1600
rascally1600
three-farthingc1600
draughty1602
dilute1605
copper1609
peltry?a1610
threepenny1613
pelsy1631
pimping1640
triobolary1644
pigwidgeon1647
dustya1649
fiddling1652
puddlinga1653
insignificant1658
piteous1667
snotty1681
scrubbed1688
dishonourable1699
scrub1711
footy1720
fouty1722
rubbishing1731
chuck-farthing1748
rubbishy1753
shabby1753
scrubby1754
poxya1758
rubbishly1777
waff-like1808
trinkety1817
meanish1831
one-eyed1843
twiddling1844
measly1847
poking1850
picayunish1852
vild1853
picayune1856
snide1859
two-cent1859
rummagy1872
faddling1883
finicking1886
slushy1889
twopence halfpenny1890
jerk1893
pissy1922
crappy1928
two-bit1932
piddly1933
chickenshit1934
pissing1937
penny packet1943
farkakte1960
pony1964
gay1978
1852 Wisconsin Express 19 Feb. 4/4 [Mr. Barker, in answer] would say that it was not picayunish legislation that had beggared the state.
1889 Chicago Advance 4 Apr. 267 Mr. Jos. Chamberlain's turn came, and then the occasion became literally and truly picayunish.
1905 Daily Kennebec Jrnl. (Augusta, Maine) 11 Mar. Savings banks and their picayuneish treatment of the men and women who lug deposits to their vaults.
1912 E. Ripley Social Life Old New Orleans 23 A picayune, which represented so little value that a miser was called picayunish.
1948 Time 1 Nov. 24/3 I don't have time to pay much attention to little picayunish things.
1981 Amer. Notes & Queries Sept.–Oct. 28/2 This edition, and most any other great work, might be subject to picayunish criticisms.
2003 Chattanooga (Tennessee) Times Free Press (Nexis) 8 Apr. (Opinion section) b6 It is senseless to hamstring health officials with picayunish rules that serve no medical purpose but do please a vocal segment of the American political public.
Derivatives
ˌpicaˈyunishness n. pettiness, preoccupation with trivial matters.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > importance > unimportance > [noun] > paltriness, meanness, or contempt
miserableness1633
meannessa1656
narrowness1661
sorriness1668
paltriness1727
threadbareness1771
wretchedness1810
trumperiness1868
picayunishness1870
threadbarity1892
1870 Debates & Proc. Constit. Convent. Illinois I. 131/1 I am opposed to the picayunishness displayed by this Convention from the day of its first session.
1935 Hispanic Amer. Hist. Rev. 15 369 This is the pettiness, the picayunishness, the negligence, and the indifference of the French administrators of Haiti.
1994 Star Tribune (Minneapolis) (Nexis) 17 July (Sports section) 2 c The Star Tribune sports department is exhibiting its pervasive Hartmanesque traits of parochialism, picayunishness and paranoia.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2006; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adj.1852