pissant
pissant Lexical Profile
pissant Game Scores & Validity
• adjective
North American Insignificant, petty, or beneath consideration (used as a vulgar term of contempt).
"The mayor refused to let a pissant bureaucratic dispute derail the entire infrastructure project."
• noun
North American An insignificant, contemptible, or obnoxious person or thing (used as a vulgar term of disparagement).
"He dismissed the heckler as an arrogant pissant who knew nothing about running a business."
Any of various ants of the family Formicidae, especially the European red wood ant (Formica rufa), whose mounds emit a pungent, urine-like odor caused by formic acid.
Word Nuance & Usage
Used in modern North American slang as a mildly vulgar, derogatory term dismissing someone or something as petty and insignificant; the older literal entomological sense for wood ants is now rare and dialectal.
Word Origin & Etymology
From Middle English pisse-moure and later piss-ant, formed from piss and ant, in reference to the pungent, urine-like odor of formic acid emitted by the nests of wood ants.
Usage Trend
Historical frequency of usage in published text.