trivial

[triv-ee-uhl]

adjective

1. of very little importance or value; insignificant.

   Don't bother me with trivial matters.

   Synonyms: trifling, frivolous, inconsequential, immaterial, slight, nugatory, unimportant
   Antonyms: important

2. commonplace; ordinary.

3. Biology.,  (of names of organisms) specific, as distinguished from generic.

4. Mathematics.

   1. noting a solution of an equation in which the value of every variable of the equation is equal to zero.

   2. (of a theorem, proof, or the like) simple, transparent, or immediately evident.

5. Chemistry.,  (of names of chemical compounds) derived from the natural source, or of historic origin, and not according to the systematic nomenclature.

   Picric acid is the trivial name of 2,4,6-trinitrophenol.

trivial

/ ˈtrɪvɪəl /

adjective

1. of little importance; petty or frivolous

   trivial complaints

2. ordinary or commonplace; trite

   trivial conversation

3. maths (of the solutions of a set of homogeneous equations) having zero values for all the variables

4. biology denoting the specific name of an organism in binomial nomenclature

5. biology chem denoting the popular name of an organism or substance, as opposed to the scientific one

6. of or relating to the trivium

Other Word Forms

• trivially adverb
• supertrivial adjective
• untrivial adjective
• untrivially adverb
• trivialness noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of trivial¹

First recorded in 1400–50; late Middle English, from Latin triviālis “belonging to the crossroads or street corner,” hence “commonplace,” equivalent to tri- “three” + vi(a) “road” + -ālis adjective suffix; tri-, -al ¹

Word History and Origins

Origin of trivial¹

C15: from Latin triviālis belonging to the public streets, common, from trivium crossroads, junction of three roads, from _tri- + via road

Synonym Study

See petty.

Example Sentences

More than an hour passes before “Kissinger” plays a Nixon tape, and then it’s a trivial comment about Kissinger’s social life by presidential secretary Rose Mary Woods.

Read more on Salon

The switch might sound trivial, but it was indicative of something far greater.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

But with a trivial bit of sustained pressure on the gas pedal, the flood gates open.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

The eventual explosion in production capacity—fabricating millions of doses rather than trivial quantities for only a handful of people—emerged from years of hard-won efficiency improvements made by people other than Fleming.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

"There's a lot of artists from a very small, not very densely populated country making music that feels quite important as opposed to just trivial," she said.

Read more on BBC

Related Words

• commonplace 
• frivolous 
• immaterial 
• incidental 
• inconsequential 
• insignificant 
• irrelevant 
• meaningless 
• minor 
• negligible 
• paltry 
• petty 
• superficial 
• trite 
• unimportant