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

In retrospect, was Blinken’s vision of music as a vehicle of global transformation a blip and a piffle, a charmingly naïve indulgence?

From Slate • Dec. 28, 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

But this indulgence in "piffle" has led us away from the main entrance, and we must come back to the floor of the salon in which our reception was being conducted.

From A Fantasy of Mediterranean Travel by Bayne, S. G.