piffle

American  

[pif-uhl] / ˈpɪf əl /

noun

1. nonsense, as trivial or senseless talk.

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verb (used without object)

piffled, piffling

1. to talk nonsense.

piffle British  

/ ˈpɪfəl /

noun

1. nonsense

   to talk piffle

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verb

1. (intr) to talk or behave feebly

Etymology

Origin of piffle

First recorded in 1840–50; perhaps akin to puff

Example Sentences

I defy you to tell me what this blithering piffle actually means.

From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 21, 2025

They may sound like piffle, and perhaps they are, but they were formative.

From Los Angeles Times • Aug. 1, 2023

For more than two hours, it pelts you with piffle so egregious — not just puns but also dad jokes, double entendres and booby-trapped one-liners — that, forced into submission, you eventually give in.

From New York Times • Apr. 4, 2023

Past administration GPRs, he added, “typically gush strategic-sounding piffle, exhausting readers with laborious defenses of the status quo. This one at least spared us that.”

From Washington Times • Nov. 30, 2021

Lovelier yet the spiffle In the picture hall; For the picture piffle Is the best of all.

From A line-o'-verse or two by Taylor, Bert Leston