- [usually before noun] (disapproving)
small and unimportant 小的；瑣碎的；次要的 I don't want to hear any more about your petty squabbles. 我再也不想聽到你們那些小口角了。 a petty bureaucrat/official (= who does not have much power or authority, although they might pretend to) 小官僚；小官員 petty corruption/tyranny/jealousies/feuds 輕微的腐敗/暴政/嫉妒/爭鬥
Extra ExamplesHe made his children's lives a misery with all his petty rules. 他的瑣碎規定把孩子們的生活弄得苦不堪言。 Some of the prison officers were petty tyrants. 有些獄警是小暴君。 The removal of petty restrictions has made life easier. 解除了各種瑣碎的限制後，日子變得輕鬆了一些。 There are plenty of petty bureaucrats who would report you for that. 有很多小官僚會爲那件事告發你。
- (disapproving)
caring too much about small and unimportant matters, especially when this is unkind to other people 小氣的；狹隘的 - (
law 法律 not very serious 小資： 不是很嚴重petty crime/theft 輕微罪行；小偷小摸 a petty criminal/thief 輕罪犯；小竊賊 When these people run out of money, they often turn to petty crime. 當這些人沒錢的時候，他們往往會轉向輕微犯罪。 These youngsters are often involved in petty crime such as shoplifting and casual theft. 這些年輕人經常犯下商店行竊和順手牽羊等較輕微的罪行。
Word Originlate Middle English (in the sense ‘small in size’): from a phonetic spelling of the pronunciation of French petit ‘small’.