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

See Examples For:

fiddle-faddle fiddle-faddling

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

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

From Time Magazine Archive

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

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

I feel constrained to treat as trash His noisy fiddle-faddle About his doings with the lash, His feats upon the saddle.

From The Poems of Henry Kendall With Biographical Note by Bertram Stevens by Kendall, Henry

He acknowledges the time wasted "fiddle-faddling" and, with pathetic bravery, declares that he "will not cling to her falsely."

From The Guardian ● Aug. 29, 2011

All right now," Old Stone Face said crisply, in his low, rumbling voice, "no fiddle-faddling around.

From Sense from Thought Divide by Dongen, H. R. van

Don't fancy I am asking you to go fiddle-faddling about my wife again: I don't see how you can do that, after the way she has used you!

From Mary Marston by MacDonald, George

Why don’t you attend to your fishing instead of fiddle-faddling with that revolver?

From The Kopje Garrison A Story of the Boer War by Boucher, W.

Ye gods, and when it was flowing,   Pitiful fool that I was, to stand fiddle-faddling in that way!

From The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 01, No. 07, May, 1858 by Various