as in nominal
so small or unimportant as to warrant little or no attention
the assistant's job was to shield the president from such footling problems
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
as in dawdling
to spend time doing nothing
spent the morning footling about while others were working
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of footling
Barton Swaim, WSJ, 21 June 2019
Adjective
By comparison with previous Establishment Clause cases, however, this lawsuit looked footling and rather mean.
—Barton Swaim, WSJ, 21 June 2019
Recent Examples of Synonyms for footling
Adjective
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The object of their largesse was an obscure nonprofit called the Los Angeles Fire Department Foundation which, for the better part of two decades, had quietly helped firefighters by raising funds for equipment — often things as nominal as gloves and flashlights — not covered in the city budget.—
David Wharton,
Los Angeles Times,
20 Jan. 2025
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Ever since, however, TCU has started three wings alongside Van Lith and Sedona Prince, once again making the fifth-year senior the nominal point guard.—
Sabreena Merchant,
The Athletic,
20 Jan. 2025
Adjective
-
That slight warming trend is expected to continue Friday, when high temperatures reach the upper 30s, with lows in the upper teens.—
Matt Hubbard,
Baltimore Sun,
19 Jan. 2025
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The snow started falling Sunday afternoon, with a slight mix of hail.—
Joseph Wilkinson,
New York Daily News,
19 Jan. 2025
Adjective
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Then, the pandemic reduced the schedule to 60 games and Eddie got a piddling 37%.—
Star Tribune,
Star Tribune,
3 Dec. 2020
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Millions of additional claims are expected to stream in from around the country over the coming weeks, while hiring remains piddling.—
Patricia Cohen,
New York Times,
23 Apr. 2020
Adjective
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Organized theft is no petty crime; these are not one-off crimes of desperation or a mom lifting a can of formula to feed her baby.—
Cailey Locklair,
Baltimore Sun,
27 Jan. 2025
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In November 2023, Pryer filed a motion to terminate her remaining two years of probation based on a recent court ruling which held that a defendant convicted of a single petty offense may not be sentenced to both imprisonment and probation.—
Judy L. Thomas,
Kansas City Star,
22 Jan. 2025
Verb
-
The loud ticking sound when my car is idling.—
Chicago Tribune,
Chicago Tribune,
28 Dec. 2024
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My heartbeat pounded in my ears, drowning out the anticipatory purr of two ambulance engines idling nearby.—
Daphne Ewing-Chow,
Forbes,
23 Dec. 2024
Adjective
-
And yet the movie’s insularity feels trifling and empty.—
David Rooney,
The Hollywood Reporter,
17 Feb. 2024
-
The cost to find these answers, even in the near term, is relatively trifling.—
Phil Plait,
Scientific American,
30 Oct. 2023
Verb
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The course proved to be a scenic one, as Connor also encountered some local wildlife, including a crocodile lounging by the water at the 13th hole and two antelopes locked in a playful antler battle near a sand trap.—
Kevin Lynn,
Newsweek,
8 Jan. 2025
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There is also time for lounging on the Pink Beach.—
Bianca Salonga,
Forbes,
6 Jan. 2025
Adjective
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There was a tiny cell, its walls painted deep red and carved with graffiti, where prisoners who were to be executed were kept.—
Jon Lee Anderson,
The New Yorker,
27 Jan. 2025
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The pup worked for 13 years helping make others smile — including countless patients at the Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, where he was named the tiniest therapy dog out of more than 100 enrolled in the hospital’s Amerman Family Foundation Dog Therapy Program.—
Luke Chinman,
People.com,
27 Jan. 2025
Thesaurus Entries Near footling
Cite this Entry
“Footling.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/footling. Accessed 2 Feb. 2025.
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