picayune vs significant

picayune

noun
  • A person regarded as unworthy of respect or useless; also, something of very little value; a trifle. 

  • An argument, fact, or other issue raised (often intentionally) that distracts from a larger issue or fails to make any difference. 

  • A small coin of the value of six-and-a-quarter cents; a Spanish coin with a value of half a real; a fippenny bit. 

adj
  • Of little consequence; small and of little importance; petty, trivial. 

  • Childishly spiteful; tending to go on about unimportant things; small-minded. 

significant

noun
  • That which has significance; a sign; a token; a symbol. 

adj
  • Reasonably large in number or amount. 

  • Having a low probability of occurring by chance (for example, having high correlation and thus likely to be related). 

  • Having a covert or hidden meaning. 

  • Having a noticeable or major effect. 

  • Signifying something; carrying meaning. 

How often have the words picayune and significant occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )