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say it: PAWL-tree
paltry is an adjective meaning "not worth considering". It carries 2 recorded senses.
not worth considering
“he considered the prize too paltry for the lives it must cost”
“piffling efforts”
“a trifling matter”
contemptibly small in amount
“a measly tip”
“the company donated a miserable $100 for flood relief”
“a paltry wage”
“almost depleted his miserable store of dried beans”
Forms marked · are formed by the regular rule rather than recorded in the source data. English keeps a few hundred irregulars and the rest follow the pattern, so the rule is right far more often than not — but it is a rule, and the mark says so.
Definitions, synonyms and semantic relations for paltry come from Princeton University’s WordNet. The pronunciation comes from the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. Commonness is measured against a corpus of everyday English. Full sources and licences.