If you refer to workers or businesses as small-time, you think they are not very important because their work is limited in extent or not very successful.
...a small time crook.
...a small-time actress and model.
Synonyms: minor, insignificant, unimportant, petty More Synonyms of small-time
small-time in British English
adjective
informal
insignificant; minor
a small-time criminal
Derived forms
small-timer (ˈsmall-ˈtimer)
noun
small-time in American English
(smɔlˌtaɪm)
US
adjective
Informal
of little importance or significance; minor or petty
Examples of 'small-time' in a sentence
small-time
What if a bunch of small-time criminals thought they could make a quick buck?
Times, Sunday Times (2009)
Most of my clients were harmless small-time crooks or businessmen who had committed fraud or theft.
Times, Sunday Times (2014)
Will the small-time buy-to-let landlord be part of this growth?
Times, Sunday Times (2006)
His father had also been a small-time crook too, and had been stripped of his war medals.