1
as in petty
not broad or open in views or opinions
the picayune ponderings of a commentator who steadfastly believes other cultures are inferior to our own
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in nominal
so small or unimportant as to warrant little or no attention
irritatingly picayune complaints
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
as in nothing
something of little importance
our lives don't amount to a picayune in the great scheme of things
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of picayune
Razib Khan, Discover Magazine, 28 July 2012
But only a fool would harp on picayune flaws when this rich material is being served with such musical polish and sensitivity.
—Charles Isherwood, WSJ, 18 Aug. 2022
Challenging ballot designations has become something of a sport in California politics — squabbles over the occasionally picayune rules return each cycle like the swallows to Capistrano.
—Los Angeles Times, 19 Mar. 2022
What would normally be regarded as an investigation that has reached the level of pursuing such picayune matters that it should be concluded, may to him or her be an investigation that ought to go on for another year.
—Dan McLaughlin, National Review, 13 Mar. 2022
There are at least two explanations: One is that the violations are so picayune as to expose a petty scheme to dump the executive.
—Washington Post, 19 Feb. 2022
This was the Britain—still very imperial yet so very picayune—to which Mr. Sen, who would go on to win the Nobel Prize in economics, had come to study.
—Tunku Varadarajan, WSJ, 21 Jan. 2022
Vance’s investigation, which appears to be focussed largely on business practices that Trump engaged in before taking office, may seem picayune in comparison with the outrageous offenses to democratic norms that Trump committed as President.
—Jane Mayer, The New Yorker, 12 Mar. 2021
But after months of family quarantine, combined with the confusion and exasperation of school-Zoom days, more of our wind-down reading sessions have involved the sureness of facts — picayune details about dogs and skyscrapers and coral reefs.
—Mark Athitakis, Washington Post, 24 Nov. 2020
Cuneyt Dil, Axios, 18 July 2024
Light-bodied and easy to drink, it’s got all the hallmarks of a classic grain whisky, but with a flavor profile that’s big and layered enough to satisfy the most picayune of single-malt snobs.
—Tony Sachs, Forbes, 30 Nov. 2023
The show has always dwelled in the picayune at times, but these and so many other moments feel like attempts to find the fight, to gin something up.
—Daniel D'addario, Variety, 13 July 2023
Adjective
At this point you may be exhausted by the exploration of picayune facts.
—Noun
Observers believe a flood of intervention into D.C. laws — from the sweeping to the picayune — is more likely than a total revocation of home rule (though there is a longshot bill for that, too).
—Recent Examples of Synonyms for picayune
Adjective
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Mixed in with small pleasures and petty disputes with her older sister are true feats of survival and bravery.—
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Gangs stop petty thievery in their own neighborhoods.—
Adjective
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For adults, the service would be available for a nominal fee.—
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These games will be purchasable standalone on the eShop and presumably at retail, or upgraded to for a nominal fee for existing owners of the game, much like how the PS5 handles its cross-gen upgrades.—
Noun
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My memoir was built of gaps, juxtaposition, weird little nothings.—
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The one whose legs turned nothings into somethings, improvising the Lions’ entire defensive game plan into a pile of ash?—
Adjective
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The Liberals' smallest lead was in a poll conducted by Innovative Research among 1,548 Canadian citizens, which showed the party with a lead of just 2 points, on 36 percent to the Conservatives' 34 percent—a lead within the poll's 3 percent margin of error.—
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Sutter Health Park’s capacity of 14,000 is very small compared to other MLB stadiums.—
Adjective
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Good Night and Good Luck, starring George Clooney, was the highest grossing show on Broadway again last week, even as its grosses took a slight dip.—
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International museums in 2024 collectively experienced a slight dip in attendance that marks a return to normalcy in the wake of the Covid-19 crisis, the Art Newspaper reports.—
Noun
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As a society navigating the choppy waters of quick-draw feuds and biting vitriol—no matter the triviality or seriousness of the topic in question—we are often cowered into joining the chorus versus belting out a solo for fear of being singled out.—
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In other words, no drugs, alcohol abuse, tardiness, triviality, egocentricity.—
Adjective
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For the Americans working in Germany, the industry chain of command conflicted with cultural politics — Americans held parochial views about their post–World War II national superiority.—
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Currently the parochial vicar at St. Lucy Parish in Campbell, Rev. Pedigo formerly served as pastor at St. Julie Billiart and Our Lady of Guadalupe in San Jose.—
Adjective
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The biggest reason: New York’s discovery law allows cases to be dismissed even for trivial, fixable discovery violations.—
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If anything, becoming a weird little guy, by my definition, is about rejecting the despair that leads down those kinds of regressive paths, and daring to care about something, even — and perhaps especially — if that something might seem kind of dumb or trivial to the outside world.—
Cite this Entry
“Picayune.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/picayune. Accessed 7 Apr. 2025.
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