These words are comparable in that they all mean small or insignificant. Trivial is used to characterize that which is ordinary or commonplace and hence of no special value or import: to interject a trivial remark. The word is not always opprobrious and may sometimes be used in reference to something which is unimportant because it is easy to deal with: to dispose of trivial business in the morning. That which is trifling is so trivial as to be unworthy of notice: a trifling distinction. The word is applied also to small amounts of money: The cost of the required books would have been trifling .

Petty and picayune are alike in their implication of small-mindedness, but petty has overtones of meanness and spite while picayune (ultimately from Provencal picaioun and now largely American) has special relevance to a narrow or contemptible point of view: a petty gossip who delighted in breaking up her sister’s romance; a picayune politician who hadn’t expressed a new idea in ten years of bench-warming. Petty can be used to describe also any small, minor or subordinate person or thing: a petty irritation; a petty officer; a petty theft. Picayune is much like trivial when it refers to something small: Why should we quibble about such a picayune sum? And it can be like petty in expressing a carping or fault-finding meanness: it was picayune of him to criticize his secretary in front of the other girls.

Paltry and measly are derogatory and are applied to that which is contemptibly small. Paltry suggests that the thing it describes should be larger or greater: a paltry contribution to the charity. Measly hints at scantiness and stinginess: a measly serving of stew for a hungry man.

Puny specifically refers to a person whose body is feeble, under-developed or weak: Poverty with its attendant miseries and inadequacies had turned a perfectly normal baby into a puny , neurotic child. By extension, puny can apply to anything that is insignificant or enfeebled: a puny attempt to solve a problem that was too big for his knowledge and experience.