Adjacent Words

Trifle definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

TRI'FLE, n. A thing of very little value or importance; a word applicable to any thing and every thing of this character.
With such poor trifles playing.
Moments make the year, and trifles, life.
Trifles
Are to the jealous confirmations strong.
TRI'FLE, v.i. To act or talk without seriousness, gravity, weight or dignity; to act or talk with levity.
They trifle, and they beat the air about nothing which toucheth us.
1. To indulge in light amusements.
To trifle with, to mock; to play the fool with; to treat without respect or seriousness.
To trifle with, to spend in vanity; to waste.
To trifle away, to no good purpose; as, to trifle with time, or to trifle away time; to trifle with advantages.
TRI'FLE, v.t. To make of no importance. [Not in use.]

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: a cold pudding made of layers of sponge cake spread with fruit or jelly; may be decorated with nuts, cream, or chocolate
2: a detail that is considered insignificant [syn: technicality, trifle, triviality]
3: something of small importance [syn: triviality, trivia, trifle, small beer] v
1: waste time; spend one's time idly or inefficiently [syn: piddle, wanton, wanton away, piddle away, trifle]
2: act frivolously [syn: frivol, trifle]
3: consider not very seriously; "He is trifling with her"; "She plays with the thought of moving to Tasmania" [syn: dally, trifle, play]

Merriam Webster's

I. noun Etymology: Middle English trufle, trifle, from Anglo-French trufle, triffle fraud, trick, nonsense Date: 14th century 1. something of little value, substance, or importance 2. a dessert typically consisting of plain or sponge cake often soaked with wine or spirits (as brandy or rum) and topped with layers of preserves, custard, and cream II. verb (trifled; trifling) Etymology: Middle English truflen, triflen, from Anglo-French trufler to trick, talk nonsense Date: 14th century intransitive verb 1. a. to talk in a jesting or mocking manner or with intent to delude or mislead b. to treat someone or something as unimportant 2. to handle something idly transitive verb to spend or waste in trifling or on trifles • trifler noun Synonyms: trifle, toy, dally, flirt, coquet mean to deal with or act toward without serious purpose. trifle may imply playfulness, unconcern, indulgent contempt <to trifle with a lover's feelings>. toy implies acting without full attention or serious exertion of one's powers <a political novice toying with great issues>. dally suggests indulging in thoughts or plans merely as an amusement <dallying with the idea of building a boat someday>. flirt implies an interest or attention that soon passes to another object <flirted with one fashionable ism after another>. coquet implies attracting interest or admiration without serious intention <companies that coquet with environmentalism solely for public relations>.

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. & v. --n. 1 a thing of slight value or importance. 2 a a small amount esp. of money (was sold for a trifle). b (prec. by a) somewhat (seems a trifle annoyed). 3 Brit. a confection of sponge cake with custard, jelly, fruit, cream, etc. --v. 1 intr. talk or act frivolously. 2 intr. (foll. by with) a treat or deal with frivolously or derisively; flirt heartlessly with. b refuse to take seriously. 3 tr. (foll. by away) waste (time, energies, money, etc.) frivolously. Derivatives: trifler n. Etymology: ME f. OF truf(f)le by-form of trufe deceit, of unkn. orig.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Trifle Tri"fle, n. [OE. trifle, trufle, OF. trufle mockery, raillery, trifle, probably the same word as F. truffe truffle, the word being applied to any small or worthless object. See Truffle.] 1. A thing of very little value or importance; a paltry, or trivial, affair. With such poor trifles playing. --Drayton. Trifles light as air Are to the jealous confirmation strong As proofs of holy writ. --Shak. Small sands the mountain, moments make year, And frifles life. --Young. 2. A dish composed of sweetmeats, fruits, cake, wine, etc., with syllabub poured over it.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Trifle Tri"fle, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Trifled; p. pr. & vb. n. Trifling.] [OE. trifelen, truflen. See Trifle, n.] To act or talk without seriousness, gravity, weight, or dignity; to act or talk with levity; to indulge in light or trivial amusements. They trifle, and they beat the air about nothing which toucheth us. --Hooker. To trifle with, to play the fool with; to treat without respect or seriousness; to mock; as, to trifle with one's feelings, or with sacred things.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Trifle Tri"fle, v. t. 1. To make of no importance; to treat as a trifle. [Obs.] --Shak. 2. To spend in vanity; to fritter away; to waste; as, to trifle away money. ``We trifle time.'' --Shak.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(trifles, trifling, trifled) 1. You can use a trifle to mean slightly or to a small extent, especially in order make something you say seem less extreme. As a photographer, he'd found both locations just a trifle disappointing... PHRASE: PHR adj/adv/prep [vagueness] 2. A trifle is something that is considered to have little importance, value, or significance. He had no money to spare on trifles... N-COUNT 3. Trifle is a cold dessert made of layers of sponge cake, jelly, fruit, and custard, and usually covered with cream. N-VAR

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

I. n. Triviality, small matter, bawble, nothing, bubble, thing of little value or consequence, thing of no moment, drop in the bucket, shadow of a shade, bagatelle. II. v. n. 1. Act with levity, be busy about trifles, toy, dally, play, dawdle, palter, fribble. 2. Talk idly or frivolously, toy, wanton.

Moby Thesaurus

Charlotte, Danish pastry, French pastry, a continental, a curse, a damn, a darn, a hoot, abandon, bagatelle, baklava, bauble, be foolish, be stupid, bean, beguile the time, bibelot, bill and coo, bit, blintz, brass farthing, bric-a-brac, burn daylight, button, carrot pudding, cent, chaff, chicken feed, chickenshit, chocolate eclair, chocolate mousse, cipher, clown, clown around, consume time, copulate, coquet, cream puff, curio, custard, cut, dab, dabble, dally, dally away, dandle, dash, details, diddle, diddle away, doodle, dowdy, dribble away, drivel away, drop, dud, duff, dummy, eclair, farce, farthing, feather, fiddle, fiddle with, fiddle-faddle, fidget, fidget with, fig, finger with, flan, fleabite, flirt, flirt with, folderol, fool, fool around, fool away, fool with, footle, fribble, frippery, fritter away, fritter away time, frivol, froth, gaud, get funny, gewgaw, gimcrack, gimcrackery, go haywire, goldbrick, goof off, hair, halfpenny, hardly anything, hill of beans, hollow man, horse around, idle, idle away, invite ridicule, iota, jackstraw, jerk off, jest, joke, jot, jump, junket, kickshaw, kid around, kill time, knickknack, knickknackery, lay figure, lead on, leave, leave loose ends, leave undone, let alone, let be, let dangle, let go, little, loiter, lollygag, lose time, make love, make out, malinger, man of straw, mash, mere nothing, mess around, minikin, minutiae, miss, mite, mockery, molehill, monkey, monkey around, mousse, muck, mucker, muddle away, nebbish, neck, next to nothing, nobody, nonentity, nothing, novelty, nullity, omit, pandowdy, pass over, pass the time, pass up, pastry, pasty, patisserie, patty, patty-shell, peanuts, peppercorn, pet, philander, picayune, piddle, pie, pin, pinch, pinch of snuff, pinprick, piss away, play, play around, play the buffoon, play the fool, play with, plaything, plum pudding, potter, potter away, pretermit, procrastinate, pudding, puff, puppet, pushover, putter, quiche, rap, red cent, rennet, rosette, row of pins, rubbish, rush, scintilla, shade, shirk, shit, skip, slack, smack, small beer, small change, smatter, smidgen, smidgin, smooch, snap, sneeshing, sou, soupcon, spice, spoon, steamed pudding, straw, string along, strudel, suggestion, suspicion, sweet-talk, syllabub, tad, tapioca pudding, tart, thing of naught, timbale, tinker, tipsy cake, tittle, tomfool, touch, toy, toy with, trace, trash, trifle away, trifle with, trifles, trinket, trivia, triviality, trumpery, tuppence, turnover, twiddle, two cents, twopence, vanilla pudding, vol-au-vent, wanton, waste time, whatnot, whiff, while away, whim-wham, whisper sweet nothings, whit, zero