Trifle
noun
A thing of little value or importance.
He considers artistic skill as a mere trifle.
Often appears as...
- mere trifle
- worth a trifle
verb
Treat (someone or something) without seriousness or respect.
He does not trifle with other people's feelings.
Often appears as...
- trifle with someone's feelings
- trifle with something
Usage tips
Disapproving
noun
A popular British dessert made with layers of sponge, custard, fruit, and cream.
I made a strawberry trifle for dessert.
Often appears as...
- strawberry trifle
- make a trifle
verb
To spend time idly, or to do something without a serious purpose.
He trifled away the hours on trivial tasks.
Often appears as...
- trifle away time
- trifle away money
noun
A thing of little value or importance.
He considers artistic skill as a mere trifle.
Often appears as...
- mere trifle
- worth a trifle
verb
Treat (someone or something) without seriousness or respect.
He does not trifle with other people's feelings.
Often appears as...
- trifle with someone's feelings
- trifle with something
Usage tips
Disapproving
noun
A popular British dessert made with layers of sponge, custard, fruit, and cream.
I made a strawberry trifle for dessert.
Often appears as...
- strawberry trifle
- make a trifle
verb
To spend time idly, or to do something without a serious purpose.
He trifled away the hours on trivial tasks.
Often appears as...
- trifle away time
- trifle away money
Definition 1 of 4
Pro Tip 1/2Minimizing Expression
Used to downplay an issue or object, suggesting it's not a big deal.
Losing that game was a trifle in the grand scheme.
Pro Tip 2/2Not Worth Mentioning
Indicates something is so unimportant it's almost not worth talking about.
A few mistakes here and there are a trifle.
Pro Tip 1/2Minimizing Expression
Used to downplay an issue or object, suggesting it's not a big deal.
Losing that game was a trifle in the grand scheme.
Pro Tip 2/2Not Worth Mentioning
Indicates something is so unimportant it's almost not worth talking about.
A few mistakes here and there are a trifle.
Pro Tip 1/2Minimizing Expression
Used to downplay an issue or object, suggesting it's not a big deal.
Losing that game was a trifle in the grand scheme.
Pro Tip 2/2Not Worth Mentioning
Indicates something is so unimportant it's almost not worth talking about.
A few mistakes here and there are a trifle.
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Video examples
Being Joseph Pulitzer PIPE...
it is the world to me I've heard of it before our time the newspapers were trifles for rich people only they never told the plight of the regular people in the world working-class people that people who strive and struggle I come
Video examples
Laura Schulz: The...
one of the fundamental problems of cognitive science with a single witticism. He said, "There's something fascinating about science. One gets such wholesale returns of conjecture out of such a trifling investment in fact."
Video examples
How to use a paper towel...
like the best it's the biggest number with one syllable trifle fold dry cuts itself fold the fold is important because it allows
Video examples
Being Joseph Pulitzer PIPE...
it is the world to me I've heard of it before our time the newspapers were trifles for rich people only they never told the plight of the regular people in the world working-class people that people who strive and struggle I come
Video examples
Laura Schulz: The...
one of the fundamental problems of cognitive science with a single witticism. He said, "There's something fascinating about science. One gets such wholesale returns of conjecture out of such a trifling investment in fact."
Video examples
How to use a paper towel...
like the best it's the biggest number with one syllable trifle fold dry cuts itself fold the fold is important because it allows
Example 1 of 3
Quote examples
Abraham Lincoln
American President
You may think it was a very little thing, and in these days it seems to me like a trifle, but it was a most important incident in my life. I could scarcely credit that I, the poor boy, had earned a dollar in less than a day; that by honest work, I had earned a dollar. I was a more hopeful and thoughtful boy from that time.
Quote examples
Orison Swett Marden
American Writer
The great thing in life is efficiency. If you amount to anything in the world, your time is valuable, your energy precious. They are your success capital, and you cannot afford to heedlessly throw them away or trifle with them.
Quote examples
Jose Rizal
Filipino Writer
Of what use are all the codes in the world, if by means of confidential reports, if for trifling reasons, if through anonymous traitors any honest citizen may be exiled or banished without a hearing, without a trial?
Quote examples
Joseph Addison
English Writer
What sunshine is to flowers, smiles are to humanity. These are but trifles, to be sure; but scattered along life's pathway, the good they do is inconceivable.
Quote examples
Richard Burton
Welsh Actor
How strange are the tricks of memory, which, often hazy as a dream about the most important events of a man's life, religiously preserve the merest trifles.
Quote examples
John Holmes
American Poet
It is well to remember that the entire universe, with one trifling exception, is composed of others.
Quote examples
Arthur Schopenhauer
German Philosopher
It is with trifles, and when he is off guard, that a man best reveals his character.
Quote examples
George A. Smith
American Clergyman
Power and position often make a man trifle with the truth.
Quote examples
Alexander Smith
Scottish Poet
Trifles make up the happiness or the misery of human life.
Quote examples
George Chapman
English Poet
He that shuns trifles must shun the world.
Quote examples
Abraham Lincoln
American President
You may think it was a very little thing, and in these days it seems to me like a trifle, but it was a most important incident in my life. I could scarcely credit that I, the poor boy, had earned a dollar in less than a day; that by honest work, I had earned a dollar. I was a more hopeful and thoughtful boy from that time.
Quote examples
Orison Swett Marden
American Writer
The great thing in life is efficiency. If you amount to anything in the world, your time is valuable, your energy precious. They are your success capital, and you cannot afford to heedlessly throw them away or trifle with them.
Quote examples
Jose Rizal
Filipino Writer
Of what use are all the codes in the world, if by means of confidential reports, if for trifling reasons, if through anonymous traitors any honest citizen may be exiled or banished without a hearing, without a trial?
Quote examples
Joseph Addison
English Writer
What sunshine is to flowers, smiles are to humanity. These are but trifles, to be sure; but scattered along life's pathway, the good they do is inconceivable.
Quote examples
Richard Burton
Welsh Actor
How strange are the tricks of memory, which, often hazy as a dream about the most important events of a man's life, religiously preserve the merest trifles.
Quote examples
John Holmes
American Poet
It is well to remember that the entire universe, with one trifling exception, is composed of others.
Quote examples
Arthur Schopenhauer
German Philosopher
It is with trifles, and when he is off guard, that a man best reveals his character.
Quote examples
George A. Smith
American Clergyman
Power and position often make a man trifle with the truth.
Quote examples
Alexander Smith
Scottish Poet
Trifles make up the happiness or the misery of human life.
Quote examples
George Chapman
English Poet
He that shuns trifles must shun the world.
Example 1 of 10
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