paltry
adjective
Simple meaning
Trashy, trivial, of little value.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
pawltreeSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈpɔltɹi
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
adjective
Trashy, trivial, of little value.
Of little monetary worth.
Despicable; contemptibly unimportant.
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Trashy, trivial, of little value.
Used this way, paltry is a reasonably familiar word with a faintly unfavourable edge. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Slightly negative
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Moderate
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Critical or judgemental
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use paltry
- “Could someone hope to survive on such a paltry income?”adjective
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
Sense: trashy or trivial or of little value
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.