1
: one who gambles or speculates with small amounts of money
2
: one who does things in a small way
also
: tightwad, cheapskate
Examples of piker in a Sentence
don't be such a piker—live it up a little while you're on vacation!
Recent Examples on the Web
Berkeley in those days was an archipelago of dinner parties, and my parents were no pikers.
—
Caitlin Flanagan, The Atlantic, 9 Dec. 2024
So far, this pullback has taken 15% off gold’s peak price — a piker by historical standards — and has lasted just 13 months, well within norms for mid-cycle corrections.
—Moneyshow, Forbes, 25 Oct. 2021
Congress’s decision will ultimately determine whether this massive federal check-writing operation will be cemented in Joe Biden’s legacy — an initiative that’s already made FDR look like a government-check-writing piker by comparison.
—Matt Weidinger, National Review, 20 Sep. 2021
Compared to more established coins, SafeMoon is a piker.
—Danielle Abril, Fortune, 17 May 2021
The end result could make the architect of the Great Society look like a piker.
—W. James Antle Iii, Washington Examiner, 16 Mar. 2021
If lording such exclusivity over your piker friends who drive 500SLs and 850is is worth the price of a decent house to you, well fine.
—Larry Griffin, Car and Driver, 27 May 2020
And Stockfish, in turn, is a piker next to AlphaZero, which crushed it after a mere 24 hours of self-training.
—IEEE Spectrum, 6 Dec. 2018
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Caitlin Flanagan, The Atlantic, 9 Dec. 2024
So far, this pullback has taken 15% off gold’s peak price — a piker by historical standards — and has lasted just 13 months, well within norms for mid-cycle corrections.
—Moneyshow, Forbes, 25 Oct. 2021
Congress’s decision will ultimately determine whether this massive federal check-writing operation will be cemented in Joe Biden’s legacy — an initiative that’s already made FDR look like a government-check-writing piker by comparison.
—Matt Weidinger, National Review, 20 Sep. 2021
Compared to more established coins, SafeMoon is a piker.
—Danielle Abril, Fortune, 17 May 2021
The end result could make the architect of the Great Society look like a piker.
—W. James Antle Iii, Washington Examiner, 16 Mar. 2021
If lording such exclusivity over your piker friends who drive 500SLs and 850is is worth the price of a decent house to you, well fine.
—Larry Griffin, Car and Driver, 27 May 2020
And Stockfish, in turn, is a piker next to AlphaZero, which crushed it after a mere 24 hours of self-training.
—IEEE Spectrum, 6 Dec. 2018
Cite this Entry
“Piker.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/piker. Accessed 4 Nov. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
piker
noun
pik·er
ˈpī-kər 
1
: one who does things on a small scale
especially
: one who gambles with a small amount of money
2
Love words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share