All 6 Uses of
petty
in
The Idiot
- But of late they have grown, more candid and are ashamed of the expression 'love of country,' and have annihilated the very spirit of the words as something injurious and petty and undignified.†
Chpt 3.1
- Crime is too often the last resource of these petty nonentities.†
Chpt 3.7 *
- Not that he objected to acts of petty meanness—he was always ready for THEM.†
Chpt 4.1
- You are ordinary of the ordinary; you have no chance of ever fathering the pettiest idea of your own.†
Chpt 4.2
- I had always heard so much that was evil said of you all—more evil than good; as to how small and petty were your interests, how absurd your habits, how shallow your education, and so on.†
Chpt 4.7
- I came here today with anxious curiosity; I wished to see for myself and form my own convictions as to whether it were true that the whole of this upper stratum of Russian society is WORTHLESS, has outlived its time, has existed too long, and is only fit to die—and yet is dying with petty, spiteful warring against that which is destined to supersede it and take its place—hindering the Coming Men, and knowing not that itself is in a dying condition.†
Chpt 4.7
Definition:
-
(petty as in: a petty crime) of less importance -- at times implying insignificance