PUNINESS

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does puniness mean? 

• PUNINESS (noun)
  The noun PUNINESS has 2 senses:

1. the quality of being unimportant and petty or frivolous

2. smallness of stature

  Familiarity information: PUNINESS used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• PUNINESS (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The quality of being unimportant and petty or frivolous

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

pettiness; puniness; slightness; triviality

Hypernyms ("puniness" is a kind of...):

unimportance (the quality of not being important or worthy of note)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "puniness"):

joke (a triviality not to be taken seriously)

Derivation:

puny (inferior in strength or significance)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Smallness of stature

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

puniness; runtiness; stuntedness

Hypernyms ("puniness" is a kind of...):

littleness; smallness (the property of having a relatively small size)

Derivation:

puny ((used especially of persons) of inferior size)

 Context examples 

Out of his puniness and fright he challenged and menaced the whole wide world.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

As in his cubhood he had been made to feel his smallness and puniness on the day he first came in from the Wild to the village of Grey Beaver, so now, in his full-grown stature and pride of strength, he was made to feel small and puny.

(White Fang, by Jack London)