fiddle-faddle

American  

[fid-l-fad-l] / ˈfɪd lˌfæd l /

noun

1. nonsense.

2. something trivial.

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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

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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

Huston soon puts a stop to this sort of fiddle-faddle.

From Time Magazine Archive

Beyond that, the system is mired in bureaucratic inertia and fiddle-faddle.

From Time Magazine Archive

Vocalist Waters and a gifted arrangement turn a ballad hitherto sung as funny fiddle-faddle into a tragic folk tale, with much the same quality found in Artist Thomas Benton's garish Frankie & Johnnie mural.

From Time Magazine Archive

“I’ll bet you my whole store it’s a matter of time before everyone starts buying cheap fiddle-faddle from SmartMart rather than paying a little more for something from their own neighbors.”

From "Hope Springs" by Jaime Berry

He said one day to me, "Why don't you give up your fiddle-faddle of geology and zoology, and turn to the occult sciences?"

From Charles Darwin: His Life in an Autobiographical Chapter, and in a Selected Series of His Published Letters by Darwin, Charles