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"paltry" is also used as a crossword clue. If that's what you saw, the answer is often measly (6 letters).
Definitions
contemptibly small in amount
Word origin
From Middle Low German paltrig (“ragged, rubbishy, worthless”), from palter, palte (“cloth, rag, shred”), from Old Saxon *paltro, *palto (“cloth, rag”), from Proto-Germanic *paltrô, *paltô (“scrap, rag, patch”). Of uncertain ultimate origin, but perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *polto- (“cloth”), see also Proto-Slavic *poltьno (“linen”).
Used in a sentence
“This is indeed a paltry flyer about a silly product.”
“She made some paltry excuse and left.”
“There are a great many languages, like Eskimo and Nootka and, aside from paltry exceptions, the Semitic languages, that cannot compound radical elements.”
Source: Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0
Used as a crossword answer1 curated clues
01“Too small to matter”6 letters
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