| / English Dictionary |
TRIVIAL
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (adjective)
Sense 1
Meaning:
(informal) small and of little importance
Example:
giving a police officer a free meal may be against the law, but it seems to be a picayune infraction
Synonyms:
fiddling; footling; lilliputian; little; niggling; petty; picayune; piddling; piffling; trivial
Classified under:
Similar:
unimportant (not important)
Domain usage:
colloquialism (a colloquial expression; characteristic of spoken or written communication that seeks to imitate informal speech)
Derivation:
trivia (something of small importance)
triviality (the quality of being unimportant and petty or frivolous)
trivialize (make trivial or insignificant)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Concerned with trivialities
Example:
a trivial mind
Classified under:
Similar:
frivolous (not serious in content or attitude or behavior)
Sense 3
Meaning:
Of little substance or significance
Example:
only trivial objections
Synonyms:
superficial; trivial
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
insignificant; unimportant (devoid of importance, meaning, or force)
Derivation:
trivia (something of small importance)
triviality (a detail that is considered insignificant)
trivialize (make trivial or insignificant)
Context examples:
This means love has become a serious topic for you, not something trivial or casual.
(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)
In addition, their work reveals that even trivial restrictions on food intake (that is, temporary diets) are associated with a reduction in pleasure.
(Obesity and food restrictions proven to be associated with less food enjoyment, University of Granada)
Do not allow a trivial misunderstanding to wither the blossoms of spring, which, once put forth and blighted, cannot be renewed.
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
She was a great talker upon little matters, which exactly suited Mr. Woodhouse, full of trivial communications and harmless gossip.
(Emma, by Jane Austen)
She trembled a little at the idea of anyone's approaching so cautiously; but resolving not to be again overcome by trivial appearances of alarm, or misled by a raised imagination, she stepped quietly forward, and opened the door.
(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)
To others it might seem a ludicrous or trivial affair, but to her it was a hard experience, for during the twelve years of her life she had been governed by love alone, and a blow of that sort had never touched her before.
(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)
Marianne was silent; it was impossible for her to say what she did not feel, however trivial the occasion; and upon Elinor therefore the whole task of telling lies when politeness required it, always fell.
(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)
The ale-drinking, the rude good-fellowship, the heartiness, the laughter at discomforts, the craving to see the fight—all these may be set down as vulgar and trivial by those to whom they are distasteful; but to me, listening to the far-off and uncertain echoes of our distant past, they seem to have been the very bones upon which much that is most solid and virile in this ancient race was moulded.
(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
And in review would pass along the corridors of memory all previous thrills and burnings he had known,—the drunkenness of wine, the caresses of women, the rough play and give and take of physical contests,—and they seemed trivial and mean compared with this sublime ardor he now enjoyed.
(Martin Eden, by Jack London)
But, indeed, if you are trivial, I cannot blame you, for the days of the great cases are past.
(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
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