trifle

American  

[trahy-fuhl] / ˈtraɪ fəl /

noun

• trifles
  plural

1. 

   an article or thing of very little value.

   Synonyms:

   toy, bauble

2. a matter, affair, or circumstance of trivial importance or significance.

3. a small, inconsiderable, or trifling sum of money.

4. a small quantity or amount of anything; a little.

   She's still a trifle angry.

5. a literary, musical, or artistic work of a light or trivial character having no great or lasting merit; bagatelle.

6. a kind of pewter of medium hardness.

7. trifles, articles made of this.

8. English Cooking. a dessert usually consisting of custard and cake soaked in wine or liqueur, and jam, fruit, or the like.

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verb (used without object)

trifled, trifling

1. to deal lightly or without due seriousness or respect.

   Don't trifle with me!

2. to play or toy by handling or fingering.

   He sat trifling with a pen.

3. to act or talk in an idle or frivolous way.

4. to pass time idly or frivolously; waste time; idle.

verb (used with object)

trifled, trifling

1. to pass or spend (time) idly or frivolously (usually followed byaway ).

   Synonyms:

   fritter

trifle British  

/ ˈtraɪfəl /

noun

1. a thing of little or no value or significance

2. a small amount; bit

   a trifle more enthusiasm

3. a cold dessert made with sponge cake spread with jam or fruit, soaked in wine or sherry, covered with a custard sauce and cream, and decorated

4. a type of pewter of medium hardness

5. articles made from this pewter

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verb

1. to deal (with) as if worthless; dally

   to trifle with a person's affections

2. to waste (time) frivolously

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• trifler
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• trifles
  plural

Etymology

Origin of trifle

1175–1225; (noun) Middle English tru ( f ) fle idle talk, deceit < Old French, variant of truf ( f ) e mockery, deceit; (v.) Middle English treoflen to mock < Old French trufler to make sport of

Explanation

A trifle is something that's totally unimportant. If your friend is freaking out over which poster to buy and you call her dilemma a trifle, you're saying she shouldn't get so worked up over nothing. Trifle comes from the Middle English trufle, meaning "fraud, joke, trick." You'll usually hear it used to mean "insignificant, trivial." If you write a little ditty to sing at a birthday party, you could say it's just a trifle. As a verb, trifle means "toy with, waste." If you play with someone's feelings without seriously meaning anything, you are trifling with his affection. Trifle is also a sweet, sticky cake. Don't trifle the day away dreaming about trifle. Make some!

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

trifle trifles trifled trifling

The game badly misses Alcaraz—“Tennis needs him,” Sinner said Sunday—but no tennis player should trifle with a bad wrist.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 12, 2026

Would you be nervous if you needed to call Sir Ben Kingsley — always “Sir Ben,” you don’t trifle with the title — and convince him to be in your movie?

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 17, 2026

Still, it is the frolicsome rapport between the two stars that gives this comic trifle of a play its allure.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 20, 2026

Looking towards Christmas, the baker said he would be making a triple chocolate tart for his cousin Grace and might recreate his trifle from the show.

From BBC ● Dec. 16, 2025

Brendan, Annie, Patsy, come in for the fried black puddin’, the siz- zlin’ sausages and the lovely trifle soaked in the best of Spanish sherry.

From "Angela's Ashes: A Memoir" by Frank McCourt

As the judge in that case noted, the law is not concerned with insignificant trifles.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 26, 2025

She’s interested in adding regular savories such as pasties and sausage rolls, and maybe bringing new treats such as trifles or Eton Messes to her roster.

From Seattle Times ● Feb. 13, 2024

Unlike dogs, which are sometimes cruelly inbred to select for traits, warty pumpkins are merely briefly-held autumn trifles — even when a lot of biological science underlies their appearance.

From Salon ● Oct. 30, 2022

Other, seemingly familiar terms — romper room, sherry trifles — have their innocence stripped from them to reveal a second, more sinister meaning.

From Washington Post ● Oct. 28, 2022

Perhaps Brand and Cooke, lacking interests that could absorb them, fuming like children over trifles, simply invented their hate of each other in order to have something to feel deeply about.

From "Black Boy" by Richard Wright

Still, it “proves what the Chinese and everyone else are saying—these are capable things and they are not to be trifled with,” said Brendan Mulvaney, director of the China Aerospace Studies Institute, a U.S.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 22, 2025

This powerful wave is not to be trifled with, and in the event of an emergency, the staff can turn it off instantly.

From Seattle Times ● Jul. 28, 2023

Sleep is not to be trifled with; there is nothing low-stakes about it.

From Washington Post ● Jan. 16, 2023

"Uncle Harlo's influence is not a thing to be trifled with. He's done us a tremendous favor. You need to remember you're not just representing yourself today."

From Salon ● Nov. 28, 2022

As someone who could make them famous among their peers, I was no longer a person to be trifled with.

From "The Glass Castle" by Jeannette Walls

But it’s the songs that talk about brushing off stifling, trifling men, including the title track and “What Have You Done For Me Lately,” that have the most staying power.

From Salon ● Apr. 11, 2026

Before IMG and ProServ, athletes typically got trifling rewards for endorsing products.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 21, 2026

The planet’s trifling atmosphere—about 1 percent the density of our own—is notoriously too thin to help slow down a spacecraft attempting to land, but can still create turbulence and potential disaster.

From Slate ● Dec. 9, 2025

Frankly, the more trifling the crime, the better this franchise’s comedy aspirations would work.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 24, 2025

The logs were ignited at long distance through a trifling diversion of the energy beam that fed the public buildings of the city.

From "I, Robot" by Isaac Asimov