English

Alternative forms

• penny-ante

Adjective

pennyante ‎(comparative more pennyante, superlative most pennyante)

1. Of or pertaining to penny ante poker
2. played for small stakes
3. trivial
   • 1967, United States Congress Senate Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee on Administrative Practice and Procedure, Computer Privacy, page 117:

     You wouldn't want one of your agents doing something like that just to convict a pennyante gambler.

   • 1970, National Right to Work Committee, National Right to Work Newsletter, Volumes 16-20, page 28:

     What the workers detest most is the UFW hiring hall ... the pennyante dispatch halls which give UFW organizers dictatorial control over the workers.

   • 2012, Gina Wilkins, The Littlest Stowaway, ISBN 1460860624:

     It would serve you right if I left you to deal with Annie and your pennyante charter service.

   • 2014, Donald E. Westlake, Why Me?:

     "So," Mologna said, "a lot of you social misfits, pennyante heisters, cheapjack four-flushers, and miserable hopeless losers figure you'll help the Police Department of the City of New York find the Byzantine Fire, is that it?"

Related terms

• penny ante

Anagrams

• ten a penny