fiddle-faddle

American  

[fid-l-fad-l] / ˈfɪd lˌfæd l /

noun

1. nonsense.

2. something trivial.

---

verb (used without object)

fiddle-faddled, fiddle-faddling

1. to fuss with trifles.

interjection

1. (used to express irritation, impatience, etc.)

fiddle-faddle British  

/ ˈfɪdəlˌfædəl /

noun

1. trivial matter; nonsense

---

verb

1. (intr) to fuss or waste time, esp over trivial matters

Other Word Forms

• fiddle-faddler
  noun

Etymology

Origin of fiddle-faddle

First recorded in 1570–80; gradational compound based on fiddle

Explanation

Fiddle-faddle is silly, insignificant nonsense. Fiddle-faddle doesn't amount to much. Fiddle-faddle usually refers to nonsense that is particularly insubstantial: trivial stuff that means little. If you're trying to discuss something serious, and someone makes an irrelevant point, you could say "That's fiddle-faddle!" This is a reduplicative word — like hocus pocus and higgledy-piggledy — which means most of the word repeats. Lots of reduplicative words mean nonsense, such as mumbo-jumbo and jibber-jabber.

Example Sentences

There was an owl lived in an oak, Wisky, wasky, weedle; And every word he ever spoke Was fiddle, faddle, feedle.

From The Nursery Rhymes of England by Various

Blush ye! ye with your buckles, and your pointed toes and your fiddle faddle.

From The Quarterly Review, Volume 162, No. 324, April, 1886 by Various

There was an owl lived in an oak, Wisky, wasky, weedle; And every word he ever spoke, Was fiddle, faddle, feedle.

From Children's Literature A Textbook of Sources for Teachers and Teacher-Training Classes by Clippinger, Erle Elsworth