trifling
Americanadjective
-
of very little importance; trivial; insignificant.
a trifling matter.
- Synonyms:
- inconsequential, slight, unimportant
- Antonyms:
- important
-
of small value, cost, or amount.
a trifling sum.
- Synonyms:
- piddling, negligible
-
frivolous; shallow; light.
trifling conversation.
-
mean; worthless.
noun
-
idle or frivolous conduct, talk, etc.
-
foolish delay or waste of time.
adjective
-
insignificant or petty
-
frivolous or idle
Synonym Usage
See petty.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of trifling
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English; see trifle, -ing 2, -ing 1
Explanation
If something is trifling it's really unimportant, of no consequence — "a trifling detail." Everything is relative, of course, and what might appear trifling to one person may take on deep importance for another. Clues are classically trifling things. As Sherlock Holmes explains to Dr. Watson when faced with a seemingly minor detail: "It is, of course, a trifle, but there is nothing so important as trifles."
Vocabulary lists containing trifling
Life of Pi
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Fever 1793
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30 GRE Words Beginning with "T" "U" "V" and "W"
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Trifling is not a word one likes to apply to lawmakers, but how else do you describe that kind of loutish behavior?
From Washington Post • Apr. 9, 2022
Trifling as it was she recognised it as the work of Byam Warner.
From The Gorgeous Isle A Romance; Scene: Nevis, B.W.I. 1842 by Atherton, Gertrude Franklin Horn
Trifling as this instance may seem, there is great force in its being solitary, and apparently contradictory to what they both before affirmed in general.
From Junius Unmasked or, Thomas Paine the author of the Letters of Junius and the Declaration of Independence by Moody, Joel
Trifling as these circumstances are in themselves, they show perception, and perseverance, struggling against the barriers that Nature had interposed.
From Olive Leaves Or, Sketches of Character by Sigourney, L. H. (Lydia Howard)
The water-drop wears out the stone; and cares Trifling, if ceaseless, form an aggregate, Whose burden weighs the buoyant heart to earth.
From Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 62, Number 385. November, 1847. by Various
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
