Paltry
1. Lacking in importance or worth.
2. Wretched or contemptible.
Usage : John considered the prize too paltry for the lives it cost.
He was fined the paltry sum of $50.
She had no interest in such paltry concerns.
Meagre
1. Deficient in quantity, fullness, or extent; scanty.
2. Deficient in richness, fertility, or vigor; feeble.
3. Having little flesh; lean.
Usage : The meager soil of an eroded plain.
He tried a lot to revive his business after selling off whatever meagre property he had.
He works in the office for a meagre sum of money.
Trivial
1. Of little significance or value.
2. Ordinary; commonplace.
3. Concerned with or involving trivia.
Usage : I don’t like to visit the doctor just for something trivial.
He recommended but only trivial updates to the project.
Trifling
1. Of slight worth or importance.
2. Frivolous or idle.
Usage : The guests had each paid £250, no trifling sum.
The whole country is a collection of trifling islands.
Beggarly
1. Of, relating to, or befitting a beggar; very poor.
2. So mean, petty, or paltry as to deserve contempt.
Usage : a beggarly existence in the slums.
John was bought up in beggarly living conditions.
Derisory
1. Expressing derision; derisive.
2. Laughable; ridiculous.
Usage : She was being paid a derisory amount of money.
It was a derisory offer that prompted him to reject it.
Measly
1. Contemptibly small; meager.
2. Infected with measles.
Usage: gave the parking attendant a measly tip.
The average bathroom measures a measly 3.5 metres.
Piddling
So trifling or trivial as to be beneath one’s consideration.
Usage : The sleuths were arguing over piddling amounts of money.
Nickel-and-dime
1. Involving or paying only a small amount of money.
2. Minor; small-time.Usage : John refused to do the job as it was a nickel-and-dime kind of job.
When the police discovered the whole truth, it found out that the whole operation was a nickel-and-dime being run out of a single borrowed room.
Picayune
1. Of little value or importance; paltry.
2. Petty; mean.
Usage : John decided the offer was not worth a picayune.
Giving a police officer a free meal may be against the law, but it seems to be a picayune infraction.
Exiguous
Extremely scanty; meager.
Usage : John earns a exiguous income.
Flora saw her father trembling in all his exiguous length, though he held himself stiffer than ever if that was possible.
Thrifty
1. Practicing or marked by the practice of thrift; wisely economical.
2. Industrious and thriving; prosperous.
3. Growing vigorously; thriving, as a plant.
Usage : My mother taught me to be thrifty.
John deployed a very thrifty and economical approach towards the camera rental problem.