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FRIVOLOUS
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (adjective)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Not serious in content or attitude or behavior
Example:
a frivolous young woman
Classified under:
Similar:
airheaded; dizzy; empty-headed; featherbrained; giddy; light-headed; lightheaded; silly (lacking seriousness; given to frivolity)
flighty; flyaway; head-in-the-clouds; scatterbrained (guided by whim and fancy)
flippant; light-minded (showing inappropriate levity)
idle; light (silly or trivial)
light (intended primarily as entertainment; not serious or profound)
trivial (concerned with trivialities)
Also:
superficial (concerned with or comprehending only what is apparent or obvious; not deep or penetrating emotionally or intellectually)
Attribute:
earnestness; serious-mindedness; seriousness; sincerity (the trait of being serious)
Antonym:
serious (concerned with work or important matters rather than play or trivialities)
Derivation:
frivolity (acting like a clown or buffoon)
frivolity; frivolousness (the trait of being frivolous; not serious or sensible)
Context examples:
You have grown abominably lazy, you like gossip, and waste time on frivolous things, you are contented to be petted and admired by silly people, instead of being loved and respected by wise ones.
(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)
She lost all concern for him in finding herself thus selected as the object of such idle and frivolous gallantry; and while she steadily repressed it, could not but feel the reproof contained in his believing, that however long, and for whatever cause, his attentions had been withdrawn, her vanity would be gratified, and her preference secured at any time by their renewal.
(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)
I hardly know where I found the hardihood thus to open a conversation with a stranger; the step was contrary to my nature and habits: but I think her occupation touched a chord of sympathy somewhere; for I too liked reading, though of a frivolous and childish kind; I could not digest or comprehend the serious or substantial.
(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)
