puny

Word family

pu·ny /ˈpjuːni/ adjectiveadj

1 WEAKa puny person is small, thin, and weak 〔人〕弱小的，瘦小的

a puny little guy

瘦小的人

puny arms

瘦弱的臂膀

► see thesaurus at weak

2 EFFECTIVE#not effective or impressive 无效的；不起眼的

puny effort/attempt

a puny attempt at humour

没有效果的幽默

Our efforts look puny beside Fred’s.

我们的努力与弗雷德的相比简直不足挂齿。

3 a puny amount of money is too small 〔一笔金额〕很少的

She was awarded a puny £1,000 in compensation.

只判给她区区1,000英镑的赔偿金。

Examples from the Corpus

puny• His wife was such a big strong woman, she made him look puny.• Volker's puny body shook with anger.• The relatively puny father-of-three could have been forgiven for having second thoughts when he was picked.• Can you still get your divorce on such puny, immediately regretted unfaithfulness?• Persuasive in its action moments but puny in terms of character and dialogue.• a puny kid• Pete was a puny little boy with short hair and glasses.• So, Cyclops, you were not quite strong enough to eat all of the puny men?• Oh, how puny my contemporaries seem by comparison!• puny profits• And they had to take four semesters of hygiene, or gym-perhaps to counter their waxy pallor and puny stature.

puny effort/attempt• Change was a mass movement; it owed nothing to the puny efforts of the individual.

Origin puny