How to Use puny in a Sentence

puny

adjective
  • We laughed at their puny attempt to trick us.
  • I wouldn't mess with him—he makes bodybuilders look puny in comparison.
  • There are few sadder things in life than a puny, shriveled grape.
    — Marissa Wu, Southern Living, 1 July 2021
  • The cart is led by a puny old gray horse unable to carry the weight.
    — Los Angeles Times, 14 Jan. 2021
  • My humor is puny compared with the jokes of those who came before.
    — Washington Post, 23 Sep. 2021
  • The puny wages paid for their labor went to state governments.
    — Michelle Singletary, Washington Post, 20 Nov. 2020
  • One of my baseball heroes became my friend – puny sick teenage me.
    — Terry Pluto, cleveland, 22 Jan. 2023
  • That figure seems puny for a city that only last year set a record for wetness.
    — Martin Weil, Washington Post, 7 June 2019
  • During the text plates, the fortepiano's sound was puny in the large theater.
    — Janelle Gelfand, Cincinnati.com, 16 July 2017
  • But the story is puny and seems to be in serious need of a protein shake.
    — Kelly Fiveash, Ars Technica, 4 June 2017
  • The Verdugo Mountains look like puny bumps from the canyon-top perch.
    — Los Angeles Times, 15 June 2021
  • In an era of ultra-low rates, those mortgages and bonds paid out puny interest.
    — Paul Wiseman, Fortune, 20 Dec. 2023
  • That the barrel is 17 feet long and still looks puny gives an idea of just how big the turret is.
    — Kyle Mizokami, Popular Mechanics, 30 May 2016
  • When a stock has a low price/sales ratio, often the profits are puny compared to sales.
    — John Dorfman, Forbes, 18 July 2022
  • Compared to the megalodon, the model of the modern-day great white shark seems puny.
    — Susan Dunne, courant.com, 3 July 2019
  • Too much fruit saps a tree’s energy and leaves you with a lot of puny lemons instead of a few big, healthy ones.
    — Leanne Potts, Better Homes & Gardens, 9 Oct. 2024
  • The tyrannosaurus rex, for instance, had longer and larger arms than abelisaurids, but don't let their puny arms fool you.
    — Jordan Mendoza, USA TODAY, 20 Feb. 2022
  • With just three puny anti-tank guns on hand, the GIs made the oil itself their weapon.
    — Robert Zubrin, National Review, 16 Dec. 2019
  • But this is just the toll from a bomb that is puny compared to modern nuclear missiles.
    — Daily Intelligencer, 12 June 2018
  • We’re mystified why the company put such a puny timber spike on the saw.
    — Roy Berendsohn, Popular Mechanics, 30 Nov. 2022
  • Steve Rogers grows up in Brooklyn as a puny but resolute child.
    — Literary Hub, 27 Feb. 2026
  • But these would seem puny compared with some of the snake species that slithered on Earth millions of years ago.
    — Allison Parshall, Scientific American, 28 Jan. 2025
  • The ship is massive compared to other sailboats, but puny when stacked up against a cargo ship.
    — Mack Degeurin, Popular Science, 25 June 2026
  • In light of the attack, the fence around the campus looks puny, even perfunctory.
    — Ron Charles, Washington Post, 15 Aug. 2022
  • In the end, only one puny young man had the spark of hope needed to pull the sword from its tree and dispel the darkness.
    — Ben Rosenstock, Vulture, 17 Apr. 2021
  • There was a photo of Daria in the middle of a sea of volcanic ash, kneeling over a puny tree.
    — Lara Vapnyar, The New Yorker, 4 Sep. 2023
  • Or even one of those weird, puny, overcooked Kix bits found at the bottom of the cereal box.
    — Marci Robin, Allure, 13 July 2018
  • But the rent roll was puny, and few tenants could have paid more even if rent stabilization had allowed for it.
    — Michael Powell, The Atlantic, 11 Feb. 2026
  • On the air, Nevada and its six electoral college votes is the puny pal for the other six main swing states.
    — Philip Elliott, TIME, 8 Aug. 2024
  • The weapon in the video is puny by modern terms and was superseded by bombs hundreds of times more powerful.
    — Kyle Mizokami, Popular Mechanics, 23 July 2021

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'puny.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Last Updated: