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单词 picayune
释义

Definition of picayune in English:

picayune

adjective ˌpɪkəˈjuːnˌpɪkəˈjun
North American informal
  • Of little value or significance; petty.

    the picayune squabbling of party politicians
    Example sentencesExamples
    • The cameras in the classroom are teaching students to be ever more obedient; that is, to internalize the rules and to accept as legitimate an authority that polices even the most picayune infractions.
    • Having fewer picayune regulations might lead coaches to commit more strongly to those that matter.
    • Governments now claim to have a mandate for a battery of items in the manifesto, however picayune each may be.
    • The cyclist behind me lands the jump but slams on his brakes and skids to a stop next to my picayune wreck.
    • Caught between the work rules of the teachers' unions and the picayune regulations of the central bureaucracy, they find themselves imprisoned in a mechanical system organized like an industrial factory.
    • The exercise of judicial discretion in a case such as the present may seem at first blush a picayune matter.
    • You may have noticed I generally stay away from picayune liturgical controversies.
    • Cogitating, considering, and contemplating about the grand scheme of things not to mention picayune matters is cheap.
    • Don't think this was a picayune issue with no larger consequences.
    • I don't suppose many alpinists would have committed such a picayune ascent to paper, but I found the exercise useful.
    • Yet beside these we find other sources suggesting that it is not appropriate to be too picayune.
    • From all accounts, they are motivated solely by the desire to protect the Dear Leader from any picayune criticism of his divinely inspired policies.
    • In short, save for the picayune fact he had no bus-driving credentials, he was the perfect bus driver.
    • This is not a picayune instance but, in my experience, the industry norm.
    • His campaign has been forced to hire paid signature gatherers in a number of states and to shell out huge sums to fend off constant and frequently picayune legal challenges to its petitions.
    Synonyms
    trivial, unimportant, insignificant, inconsequential, petty, minor, of little account, of no account, of little consequence, of no consequence, not worth mentioning, not worth bothering about, light, footling, fiddling, pettifogging, incidental
noun ˌpɪkəˈjuːnˌpɪkəˈjun
North American dated
  • 1A small coin of little value, especially a 5-cent piece.

    Example sentencesExamples
    • While still agonizing over this traumatic separation, he is approached by a white man who offers him a picayune.
    • Occasionally, he says, in delightful retrospect, they gave him a "picayune or bit."
    • He removed the watch from his wrist and showed the sphere, a copy of a Spanish coin, the picayune, that was circulated in New Orleans when the newspaper was founded, in 1837, and whose value covered the price of a copy of the newspaper.
    1. 1.1informal An insignificant person or thing.
      Synonyms
      insignificant person, lightweight, mediocrity, nobody, gnat, insect, cipher

Origin

Early 19th century: from French picaillon, denoting a Piedmontese copper coin, also used to mean 'cash', from Provençal picaioun, of unknown ultimate origin.

Rhymes

afternoon, attune, autoimmune, baboon, balloon, bassoon, bestrewn, boon, Boone, bridoon, buffoon, Cameroon, Cancún, cardoon, cartoon, Changchun, cocoon, commune, croon, doubloon, dragoon, dune, festoon, galloon, goon, harpoon, hoon, immune, importune, impugn, Irgun, jejune, June, Kowloon, lagoon, lampoon, loon, macaroon, maroon, monsoon, moon, Muldoon, noon, oppugn, platoon, poltroon, pontoon, poon, prune, puccoon, raccoon, Rangoon, ratoon, rigadoon, rune, saloon, Saskatoon, Sassoon, Scone, soon, spittoon, spoon, swoon, Troon, tune, tycoon, typhoon, Walloon
 
 

Definition of picayune in US English:

picayune

adjectiveˌpikəˈyo͞onˌpɪkəˈjun
North American informal
  • Petty; worthless.

    the picayune squabbling of party politicians
    Example sentencesExamples
    • The cyclist behind me lands the jump but slams on his brakes and skids to a stop next to my picayune wreck.
    • Don't think this was a picayune issue with no larger consequences.
    • The exercise of judicial discretion in a case such as the present may seem at first blush a picayune matter.
    • I don't suppose many alpinists would have committed such a picayune ascent to paper, but I found the exercise useful.
    • In short, save for the picayune fact he had no bus-driving credentials, he was the perfect bus driver.
    • From all accounts, they are motivated solely by the desire to protect the Dear Leader from any picayune criticism of his divinely inspired policies.
    • Having fewer picayune regulations might lead coaches to commit more strongly to those that matter.
    • Yet beside these we find other sources suggesting that it is not appropriate to be too picayune.
    • Cogitating, considering, and contemplating about the grand scheme of things not to mention picayune matters is cheap.
    • Caught between the work rules of the teachers' unions and the picayune regulations of the central bureaucracy, they find themselves imprisoned in a mechanical system organized like an industrial factory.
    • His campaign has been forced to hire paid signature gatherers in a number of states and to shell out huge sums to fend off constant and frequently picayune legal challenges to its petitions.
    • This is not a picayune instance but, in my experience, the industry norm.
    • The cameras in the classroom are teaching students to be ever more obedient; that is, to internalize the rules and to accept as legitimate an authority that polices even the most picayune infractions.
    • You may have noticed I generally stay away from picayune liturgical controversies.
    • Governments now claim to have a mandate for a battery of items in the manifesto, however picayune each may be.
    Synonyms
    trivial, unimportant, insignificant, inconsequential, petty, minor, of little account, of no account, of little consequence, of no consequence, not worth mentioning, not worth bothering about, light, footling, fiddling, pettifogging, incidental
nounˌpikəˈyo͞onˌpɪkəˈjun
North American dated
  • 1A small coin of little value, especially a 5-cent piece.

    Example sentencesExamples
    • Occasionally, he says, in delightful retrospect, they gave him a "picayune or bit."
    • While still agonizing over this traumatic separation, he is approached by a white man who offers him a picayune.
    • He removed the watch from his wrist and showed the sphere, a copy of a Spanish coin, the picayune, that was circulated in New Orleans when the newspaper was founded, in 1837, and whose value covered the price of a copy of the newspaper.
    1. 1.1informal An insignificant person or thing.
      Synonyms
      insignificant person, lightweight, mediocrity, nobody, gnat, insect, cipher

Origin

Early 19th century: from French picaillon, denoting a Piedmontese copper coin, also used to mean ‘cash’, from Provençal picaioun, of unknown ultimate origin.

 
 
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更新时间:2024/12/25 13:51:43