Other forms: pettinesses
Pettiness is the quality of being completely unimportant. The pettiness of an airplane passenger's complaint that there’s a smudge on the window is likely to cause the flight attendants to pay no attention to it.
Pettiness — whether it's in a term paper or an argument between politicians — is a focus on issues so small and trivial that it's almost silly. Another way to use the noun pettiness is to describe the quality of a person that's also called "small-mindedness." A friend's pettiness can be hard to live with, since she focuses on trivial matters and has a tendency to seek revenge for the slightest offenses. Petty comes from the French word for "small," petit.