Trifle
['traɪf(ə)l] or ['traɪfl]
Definition
(noun.) a cold pudding made of layers of sponge cake spread with fruit or jelly; may be decorated with nuts, cream, or chocolate.
Typist: Mason--From WordNet
Definition
(n.) A thing of very little value or importance; a paltry, or trivial, affair.
(n.) A dish composed of sweetmeats, fruits, cake, wine, etc., with syllabub poured over it.
(n.) To act or talk without seriousness, gravity, weight, or dignity; to act or talk with levity; to indulge in light or trivial amusements.
(v. t.) To make of no importance; to treat as a trifle.
(v. t.) To spend in vanity; to fritter away; to waste; as, to trifle away money.
Checked by Alma
Synonyms and Synonymous
v. n. [1]. Act with levity, be busy about trifles, PIDDLE.[2]. Talk idly or frivolously, toy, wanton.
n. Bagatelle, triviality, pittance, modicum, small matter, thing of little value or consequence, thing of no moment, drop in the bucket, shadow of a shade.
Checked by Irving
Synonyms and Antonyms
SYN:Bauble, bagatelle, toy, straw, nothing, triviality, levity, joke, cipher,bubble, gewgaw, kickshaw, rush
ANT:Treasure, portent, phenomenon, crisis, conjuncture, importance, urgency,weight, necessity, seriousness
SYN:Toy, play, dally, wanton, quibble, fribble
ANT:Treat, cope, tackle, grapple, deal
Edited by Henry
Definition
v.i. to act or talk lightly: to indulge in light or silly amusements: to waste or spend idly or unprofitably (with).—n. anything of little value: a light confection of whipped cream or white of egg with fruit wine &c.—n. Trī′fler.—adj. Trī′fling of small value or importance: trivial.—adv. Trī′flingly.—n. Trī′flingness.
Inputed by Josiah
Examples
- Listen, said Tarzan, easing up a trifle, but not releasing his hold. Edgar Rice Burroughs. Tarzan of the Apes.
- Do not let us be frightened from a good deed by a trifle. Jane Austen. Mansfield Park.
- He was going out of the way, on what he had been able to scrape up, and a trifle from me. Charles Dickens. Little Dorrit.
- Did it, by any chance, occur to you when you came to this house that I was not the sort of man you could trifle with? Wilkie Collins. The Woman in White.
- You are rather too kind sometimes, and then just a trifle hasty when he tries your patience. Louisa May Alcott. Little Women.
- You know what I mean, and you trifle with my impatience. Charles Dickens. Our Mutual Friend.
- It is unkind--it is throwing back my love for you as if it were a trifle, to speak in that way in the face of the fact. George Eliot. Middlemarch.
- It shows a magnanimous spirit and does not magnif y the importance of trifles. Walter Libby. An Introduction to the History of Science.
- I suppose French morality is not of that straight-laced description which is shocked at trifles. Mark Twain. The Innocents Abroad.
- Mrs. Bretton, though a commanding, and in grave matters even a peremptory woman, was often passive in trifles: she allowed the child her way. Charlotte Bronte. Villette.
- He laughed aloud at trifles, made bad jokes and applauded them himself, and, in short, grew unmeaningly noisy. Charlotte Bronte. Shirley.
- It is founded upon the observation of trifles. Arthur Conan Doyle. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.
- Meantime, you forget essential points in pursuing trifles: you do not inquire why Mr. Briggs sought after you--what he wanted with you. Charlotte Bronte. Jane Eyre.
- Men made perilous journies to possess themselves of earth's splendid trifles, gems and gold. Mary Shelley. The Last Man.
- She knew that he trifled with her; but she loved on. Thomas Hardy. The Return of the Native.
- A superb woman, Mr. Blake, of the sort that are not to be trifled with--the sort with the light complexion and the Roman nose. Wilkie Collins. The Moonstone.
- YOUR reputation, dearest Rachel, is something too pure and too sacred to be trifled with. Wilkie Collins. The Moonstone.
- Is it conceivable that I should allow myself to be trifled with in this way? Wilkie Collins. The Moonstone.
- But be on your guard; I will not be trifled with! Charlotte Bronte. Shirley.
- The wretched man trifled with his glass,--took it up, looked at it through the light, put it down,--prolonged my misery. Charles Dickens. Great Expectations.
- Go out and ask who is never trifled with, and who is always treated with some delicacy. Charles Dickens. Little Dorrit.
- It made her blood run sharp, to be thwarted in even so trifling a matter. D. H. Lawrence. Women in Love .
- The most trifling actions that affect a man's credit are to be regarded. Benjamin Franklin. Memoirs of Benjamin Franklin.
- Mr. Bennet accepted the challenge, observing that he acted very wisely in leaving the girls to their own trifling amusements. Jane Austen. Pride and Prejudice.
- One, the most trifling part of my duty, remains undischarged. Walter Scott. Ivanhoe.
- Now he was smitten with compunction, yet irritated that so trifling an omission should be stored up against him after nearly two years of marriage. Edith Wharton. The Age of Innocence.
- The commendation bestowed on him by Mrs. Reynolds was of no trifling nature. Jane Austen. Pride and Prejudice.
- There must be no trifling with HER affections, poor dear. Charles Dickens. David Copperfield.
Checked by Debbie