petty
adjective /ˈpeti/
/ˈpeti/
- [usually before noun] (disapproving) small and unimportant
synonym minor小的;琐碎的;次要的 - I don't want to hear any more about your petty squabbles.
我再也不想听到你们那些小口角了。 - a petty bureaucrat/official (= who does not have much power or authority, although they might pretend to)
小官僚;小官员 - petty corruption/tyranny/jealousies/feuds
轻微的腐败/暴政/嫉妒/争斗
- He made his children's lives a misery with all his petty rules.
他的琐碎规定把孩子们的生活弄得苦不堪言。 - Some of the prison officers were petty tyrants.
有些狱警是小暴君。 - The removal of petty restrictions has made life easier.
解除了各种琐碎的限制后,日子变得轻松了一些。 - There are plenty of petty bureaucrats who would report you for that.
有很多小官僚会为那件事告发你。
- I don't want to hear any more about your petty squabbles.
- (disapproving) caring too much about small and unimportant matters, especially when this is unkind to other people
synonym small-minded小气的;狭隘的 - How could you be so petty?
你怎么那么小气呢?
- How could you be so petty?
- (law
) (of a crime or criminal) not very serious法律 小资: 不是很严重- petty crime/theft
轻微罪行;小偷小摸 - a petty criminal/thief
轻罪犯;小窃贼 - When these people run out of money, they often turn to petty crime.
当这些人没钱的时候,他们往往会转向轻微犯罪。 - These youngsters are often involved in petty crime such as shoplifting and casual theft.
这些年轻人经常犯下商店行窃和顺手牵羊等较轻微的罪行。
- petty crime/theft
词源late Middle English (in the sense ‘small in size’): from a phonetic spelling of the pronunciation of French petit ‘small’.