pettifogger

noun

Plural: pettifoggers

1. A person who uses questionable, unscrupulous, or unethical methods to achieve their goals.

2. A person who exaggerates petty matters, excessively argues over trivia, and complicates everything with irritating objections or silly philosophising.

3. Especially: A politician, lawyer, state clerk, or someone with similar importance or authority, who takes advantage from stirring up insignificant cases, or who utilises dirty practices to win elections, lawsuits, client cases, etc∙.

Examples:

The second encounter with his future refuge and investigator's office occurred as part of an official family visit with his parents. The hullabaloo over the problematic emblem on the chest's lid was already in full swing back then. That evening, the waspish young Mrs∙ Grosman was breathing down their necks; the school-wide exhortation on account of Bruno's alleged neo-fascist transgression was preoccupying them more than accommodable; and the gallimaufry with the investigating pettifoggers' punitive inflictions was about to stir up - so the whole excursion carried under a stressful overtone. (Context: A boy named Bruno recollects his second visit to a basement cellar during a stressful time following his discovery of a historical chest with an unknown emblem resembling a swastika on it. Source: J∙ Okram - The Mystery of the Rammed Key.)

Translations:

Slovak / Slovenčina (SK): hochštapler; šarlatán; podfukár; zádrapčivý byrokrat; malicherník

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Julion Okram's Word Explainer is a concise dictionary of uncommon, less standard and expert words appearing in mystery thrillers and science fiction adventures. It contains little-known or fictional geographical names, scientific terms, slang, professional jargons, archaisms, dialects, neologisms, composite expressions, etc⋅. Find word definitions, alternative meanings, occasional notes about etymology and stems, and story-related contextual remarks. The entire vocabulary is searchable online. Readers wishing to go offline or have a printed reference at hand can download this full glossary as a wordbook in PDF format.