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TRIFLING
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
The deliberate act of delaying and playing instead of working
Synonyms:
Classified under:
Nouns denoting acts or actions
Hypernyms ("trifling" is a kind of...):
delay; holdup (the act of delaying; inactivity resulting in something being put off until a later time)
Derivation:
trifle (waste time; spend one's time idly or inefficiently)
II. (adjective)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Not worth considering
Example:
a trifling matter
Synonyms:
negligible; paltry; trifling
Classified under:
Similar:
worthless (lacking in usefulness or value)
III. (verb)
Sense 1
-ing form of the verb trifle
Context examples:
By the way, since you are interested in these little problems, and since you are good enough to chronicle one or two of my trifling experiences, you may be interested in this.
(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
She was sure her dearest, sweetest Catherine would not seriously refuse such a trifling request to a friend who loved her so dearly.
(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)
He had in his hand a heavy cane, with which he was trifling; but he answered never a word, and seemed to listen with an ill-contained impatience.
(The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson)
A trifling part, said he, and not at all to my taste, and such a one as I certainly would not accept again; but I was determined to make no difficulties.
(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)
One likes to hear what is going on, to be au fait as to the newest modes of being trifling and silly.
(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)
The shock which her marriage had given me, he continued, in a voice of great agitation, was of trifling weight—was nothing to what I felt when I heard, about two years afterwards, of her divorce.
(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)
I did so; a brief examination convinced me that the contents were less taking than the title: Rasselas looked dull to my trifling taste; I saw nothing about fairies, nothing about genii; no bright variety seemed spread over the closely-printed pages.
(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)
But the whole scene of this voyage made so strong an impression on my mind, and is so deeply fixed in my memory, that, in committing it to paper I did not omit one material circumstance: however, upon a strict review, I blotted out several passages of less moment which were in my first copy, for fear of being censured as tedious and trifling, whereof travellers are often, perhaps not without justice, accused.
(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)
To my surprise, Van Helsing rose up and said with all his sternness, his iron jaw set and his bushy eyebrows meeting:—"No trifling with me! I never jest! There is grim purpose in all I do; and I warn you that you do not thwart me. Take care, for the sake of others if not for your own."
(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)
Since then, I have taken heart to write a good many trifling pieces.
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
