Definition of "paltry"

paltry

/ˈpɑltɹi/

adjective
comparative paltrier, superlative paltriest
1. Trashy, trivial, of little value.
  Quotations
  There are a great many languages, like Eskimo and Nootka and, aside from paltry exceptions, the Semitic languages, that cannot compound radical elements.
  1921, Edward Sapir, Language: An introduction to the study of speech
2. Of little monetary worth.
  Quotations
  As for those Samnites, and the men of Uz,That bought my Spanish oils and wines of Greece,Here have I purs'd their paltry silverlings.Fie, what a trouble 'tis to count this trash!
  c. 1589–1590, Christopher Marlo[we], edited by Tho[mas] Heywood, The Famous Tragedy of the Rich Ievv of Malta. […], London: […] I[ohn] B[eale] for Nicholas Vavasour, […], published 1633, Act I
  Meanwhile, the trade deal has left Britain’s fishing communities screaming betrayal, unhappy with their paltry gains and facing expensive barriers to export what they have caught.
  2022 July 8, Daniel Boffey, “Collapsing public support suggests Brexit is anything but done”, in The Guardian‎
3. Despicable; contemptibly unimportant.
  Quotations
  "An aged man is but a paltry thing, / A tattered coat upon a stick"
  1928, William Butler Yeats, Sailing to Byzantium