trivialize
Americanverb (used with object)
verb
Usage
What does trivialize mean? Trivialize means to cause something to appear unimportant or insignificant, as in Gabe tried to trivialize the D he got in math, but his parents still grounded him. Trivialize is a verb form of the adjective trivial. It’s often used by the person being trivialized, rather than by the person doing the trivializing. Example: Do not trivialize the effort that was put into my project.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of trivialize
Explanation
When you trivialize something, you make it seem less important than it really is. Some people complain that TV news tends to trivialize complicated political stories. If your friend tends to trivialize your problems and worries, he dismisses them as being too small to fret about, which might make you feel like he's not taking you seriously. If you trivialize your own health concerns, other people might not realize how sick you're feeling. When you trivialize an issue, you make it look more trivial than it is, or less significant. The Latin root of both trivialize and trivial is trivialis, "common, commonplace, or vulgar."
Vocabulary lists containing trivialize
Martin Scorsese on Cinema
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The Big Thirst
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"How the Media Twists the News"
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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.
"It saddens us that someone with his reach and status would seem to trivialize the incident that led to such an outcome and heap further pain and suffering upon the family and friends of Anthony."
From BBC • Nov. 30, 2023
And his solution speaks not to his insensitivity but his integrity, his refusal to exploit or trivialize Japanese suffering by re-enacting it for the camera.
From Los Angeles Times • Aug. 11, 2023
This may trivialize the experience of those who have suffered from trauma.
From Salon • Mar. 9, 2023
“We don’t want to trivialize what he said but we did have to acknowledge that he had made strides to better himself.”
From Seattle Times • Jan. 10, 2023
Not to understand this is to misunderstand the public uses of schooling and to trivialize the nature of intimate life—a family’s ‘language.’
From "Hunger of Memory" by Richard Rodriguez
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.
