trifle
Americannoun
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an article or thing of very little value.
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a matter, affair, or circumstance of trivial importance or significance.
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a small, inconsiderable, or trifling sum of money.
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a small quantity or amount of anything; a little.
She's still a trifle angry.
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a literary, musical, or artistic work of a light or trivial character having no great or lasting merit; bagatelle.
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a kind of pewter of medium hardness.
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trifles, articles made of this.
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English Cooking. a dessert usually consisting of custard and cake soaked in wine or liqueur, and jam, fruit, or the like.
verb (used without object)
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to deal lightly or without due seriousness or respect.
Don't trifle with me!
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to play or toy by handling or fingering.
He sat trifling with a pen.
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to act or talk in an idle or frivolous way.
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to pass time idly or frivolously; waste time; idle.
verb (used with object)
noun
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a thing of little or no value or significance
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a small amount; bit
a trifle more enthusiasm
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a cold dessert made with sponge cake spread with jam or fruit, soaked in wine or sherry, covered with a custard sauce and cream, and decorated
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a type of pewter of medium hardness
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articles made from this pewter
verb
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to deal (with) as if worthless; dally
to trifle with a person's affections
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to waste (time) frivolously
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of trifle
1175–1225; (noun) Middle English tru ( f ) fle idle talk, deceit < Old French, variant of truf ( f ) e mockery, deceit; (v.) Middle English treoflen to mock < Old French trufler to make sport of
Explanation
A trifle is something that's totally unimportant. If your friend is freaking out over which poster to buy and you call her dilemma a trifle, you're saying she shouldn't get so worked up over nothing. Trifle comes from the Middle English trufle, meaning "fraud, joke, trick." You'll usually hear it used to mean "insignificant, trivial." If you write a little ditty to sing at a birthday party, you could say it's just a trifle. As a verb, trifle means "toy with, waste." If you play with someone's feelings without seriously meaning anything, you are trifling with his affection. Trifle is also a sweet, sticky cake. Don't trifle the day away dreaming about trifle. Make some!
Vocabulary lists containing trifle
"The Tell-Tale Heart" by Edgar Allan Poe
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Unit 1: Telling Details
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"The Landlady" by Roald Dahl
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
The game badly misses Alcaraz—“Tennis needs him,” Sinner said Sunday—but no tennis player should trifle with a bad wrist.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 12, 2026
Still, it is the frolicsome rapport between the two stars that gives this comic trifle of a play its allure.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 20, 2026
This tour has ended like all the others – injuries, collapses in form and a selection trifle.
From BBC ● Jan. 6, 2026
Enter the trifle, a dessert that doesn’t get nearly enough credit for its multipurpose holiday charm.
From Salon ● Nov. 27, 2025
She looked a trifle dazed and who could blame her, but after a minute or so she was on her feet again and tottering back towards the playground.
From "Matilda" by Roald Dahl
A rewatch lends itself to the trifles peppered throughout Wineman’s clever script, but there’s nothing quite like the first time seeing his film transform from its humble beginnings to its jaw-dropping final act.
From Salon ● Apr. 5, 2026
She’s interested in adding regular savories such as pasties and sausage rolls, and maybe bringing new treats such as trifles or Eton Messes to her roster.
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 13, 2024
Other, seemingly familiar terms — romper room, sherry trifles — have their innocence stripped from them to reveal a second, more sinister meaning.
From Washington Post ● Oct. 28, 2022
The Ray Anthony Orchestra was a prolific ensemble, releasing countless dance singles in the early 1950s, including “The Hokey Pokey” and “The Bunny Hop” — swinging trifles that captured a national audience almost immediately.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 25, 2022
He idled in the barber shop and purchased a few trifles at the ten-cent store.
From "The Heart is a Lonely Hunter" by Carson McCullers
Still, it “proves what the Chinese and everyone else are saying—these are capable things and they are not to be trifled with,” said Brendan Mulvaney, director of the China Aerospace Studies Institute, a U.S.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 22, 2025
“These fittings are not something to be trifled with.”
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 18, 2023
Sleep is not to be trifled with; there is nothing low-stakes about it.
From Washington Post ● Jan. 16, 2023
"Uncle Harlo's influence is not a thing to be trifled with. He's done us a tremendous favor. You need to remember you're not just representing yourself today."
From Salon ● Nov. 28, 2022
She told them calmly, “Never mind, girls, this machine mustn’t be trifled with, but certainly is airworthy.”
From "A Thousand Sisters" by Elizabeth Wein
But it’s the songs that talk about brushing off stifling, trifling men, including the title track and “What Have You Done For Me Lately,” that have the most staying power.
From Salon ● Apr. 11, 2026
Before IMG and ProServ, athletes typically got trifling rewards for endorsing products.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 21, 2026
Frankly, the more trifling the crime, the better this franchise’s comedy aspirations would work.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 24, 2025
To state the obvious, the big picture is all this is trifling and academic because the government won by a million miles, with a majority of 120.
From BBC ● Sep. 11, 2024
Dad said we should stay vigilant, but by winter my attention had shifted back to the trifling dramas of my own life.
From "Educated" by Tara Westover
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
