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picayune
(redirected from picayunes)

   Also found in: Legal, Encyclopedia, Wikipedia 0.01 sec.
pic·a·yune  (pk-yn)
adj.
1. Of little value or importance; paltry. See Synonyms at trivial.
2. Petty; mean.
n.
1. A Spanish-American half-real piece formerly used in parts of the southern United States.
2. A five-cent piece.
3. Something of very little value; a trifle: not worth a picayune.

[Louisiana French picaillon, small coin, from French, from Provençal picaioun, from picaio, money, perhaps from Old Provençal piquar, to jingle, clink, from Vulgar Latin *piccre, to pierce; see pique.]

pica·yunish adj.

picayune [ˌpɪkəˈjuːn]
adj also picayunish US and Canadian informal
1. of small value or importance
2. mean; petty
n
1. (Economics, Accounting & Finance / Currencies) the half real, an old Spanish-American coin
2. (Economics, Accounting & Finance / Currencies) US any coin of little value, esp a five-cent piece
[from French picaillon coin from Piedmont, from Provençal picaioun, of unknown origin]
picayunishly  adv
picayunishness  n
ThesaurusLegend:  Synonyms Related Words Antonyms
Adj.1.picayune - (informal) small and of little importance; "a fiddling sum of money"; "a footling gesture"; "our worries are lilliputian compared with those of countries that are at war"; "a little (or small) matter"; "a dispute over niggling details"; "limited to petty enterprises"; "piffling efforts"; "giving a police officer a free meal may be against the law, but it seems to be a picayune infraction"
colloquialism - a colloquial expression; characteristic of spoken or written communication that seeks to imitate informal speech
unimportant - not important; "a relatively unimportant feature of the system"; "the question seems unimportant"
Translations
picayune [ˌpɪkəˈjuːn] (US) ADJinsignificante, de poca monta
picayune, picayunish
adj (US inf: = paltry) → gering, minimal; (= petty)kleinlich


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