fiddling

[fid-ling]

adjective

1. trifling; trivial.

   a fiddling sum of money.

fiddling

/ ˈfɪdlɪŋ /

adjective

1. trifling or insignificant; petty

2. another word for fiddly

Word History and Origins

Origin of fiddling¹

late Middle English word dating back to 1425–75; fiddle, -ing ²

Example Sentences

That means any game made for PC is going to work here - even if it takes a bit of fiddling to make it run properly.

Read more on BBC

Updike stuck up for himself when faced with the magazine’s intrusively correct fiddling: In 1958 he sent one editor, William Maxwell, an unwavering paragraph against a single word.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Beckett was famously unforgiving when it came to fiddling with his works; his estate would not likely countenance egregious diversions from the “Godot” text.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Stone, who seems more interested in fiddling with his sunglasses than discussing grip technique, soon wanders away to climb beneath the bleachers with another little boy.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

But opining that late-night’s problems could be solved by its hosts taking up fiddling instead of calling attention to the malevolent arsonists setting fire to the nation only proves Leno hasn’t looked around much lately.

Read more on Salon

Related Words

• bribery 
• crime 
• exploitation 
• extortion 
• fraud 
• graft 
• malfeasance 
• nepotism