different between objection vs pettifogger

English

Etymology

From Middle French objection, from Old French objeccion, from Latin obiectio

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?b?d??k??n/
• Rhymes: -?k??n

Noun

objection (plural objections)

1. The act of objecting.
2. A statement expressing opposition, or a reason or cause for expressing opposition (generally followed by the adposition to).
3. (law) An official protest raised in a court of law during a legal trial over a violation of the rules of the court by the opposing party.

   Objection! That is irrelevant to this case, Your Honor!

Usage notes

• Adjectives often used with "objection": serious, conscientious, fatal, grave, etc.
• Verbs often used with "objection": raise, make, meet, answer, etc.

Related terms

• objector

Translations

French

Etymology

From Latin obiecti?.

Pronunciation

Noun

objection f (plural objections)

1. objection (all meanings)

Related terms

• objet
• objecter
• objecteur
• objectif

Further reading

• “objection” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

English

Etymology

petty + fogger

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?p?t??f???/
• (US) IPA^(key): /?p?t??f????/, /?p?t??f????/
• Rhymes: -???(r)

Noun

pettifogger (plural pettifoggers)

1. Someone who quibbles over trivia, and raises petty, annoying objections and sophistry.
   • 1809, Washington Irving, Knickerbocker's History of New York, ch. 39:

     Hence the cunning measure of appointing as ambassador some political pettifogger skilled in delays, sophisms, and misapprehensions, and dexterous in the art of baffling argument.

2. An unscrupulous or unethical lawyer, especially one of lesser skill.

   Synonym: shyster

   • 1822, Sir Walter Scott, The Fortunes of Nigel, ch. 11:

     "An inn, or a tavern . . . these are places where greasy citizens take pipe and pot, where the knavish pettifoggers of the law spunge on their most unhappy victims.

   • 1885, The Bay State Monthly, Vol. 3, No. 6:

     . . .yet he has never sought by browbeating and other arts of the pettifogger, to confuse, baffle, and bewilder a witness. . . .

   • 1926 June 28, "National Affairs: Blind Mans Huff," Time:

     "Donald Hughes, well known in Minneapolis as a conscienceless shyster, was placed in charge of the case. . . . Mr. Edgerton, a high class, reputable lawyer, was called in of counsel from another city to lend respectability to the crooked, unprincipled, blackmailing pettifogger, Hughes."

Related terms

• pettifog
• pettifoggery

Translations