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Another word for trifle

a-z
Noun

  1. Something or things that are unimportant

    See also:

    surface

    important

  2. A small showy article

    See also:

    thing

  3. A tiny amount

      1. A mark on a surface differing sharply in color from its surroundings.
      2. A blemish, mark, or pimple on the skin.
      3. A stain or blot.
      1. The least bit; an iota:
      1. A small diacritic mark, such as an accent, vowel mark, or dot over an i.
      2. The tiniest bit; an iota.
      1. A small spot, mark, or discoloration.
      2. A tiny amount; a bit:
      3. To mark with specks.
      1. A very small quantity or portion; a bit or mite:
      1. A long irregular strip that is cut or torn off.
      2. A small amount; a particle:
      3. To cut or tear into shreds.
      1. An uneasy feeling arising from conscience or principle that tends to hinder action:
      2. A unit of apothecary weight equal to about 1.3 grams, or 20 grains.
      3. A minute part or amount.
      1. A small piece or bit; a fragment.
      2. Leftover bits of food.
      3. Discarded waste material, especially metal suitable for reprocessing.
      1. A very small piece or part; a tiny portion or speck.
      2. A very small or the smallest possible amount, trace, or degree:
      3. A body whose spatial extent and internal motion and structure, if any, are irrelevant in a specific problem.
      1. A unit of weight in the US Customary System, an avoirdupois unit equal to 437.5 grains (28.35 grams).
      2. A unit of apothecary weight, equal to 480 grains (31.103 grams).
      3. A fluid ounce.
      1. A small scrap or leaving of food after a meal is completed.
      2. A scrap; a bit.
      1. The smallest particle of a substance that retains the chemical and physical properties of the substance and is composed of two or more atoms; a group of like or different atoms held together by chemical forces.
      2. A small particle; a tiny bit.
      1. Any of numerous small or minute arachnids of the order Acarina, including species that damage crops or stored food and species that are parasitic on animals and often transmit disease.
      1. In the United States,160 of a fluid dram (0.0616 milliliter).
      2. In Great Britain,120 of a scruple (0.0592 milliliter).
      3. A half note.
      1. The smallest bit; iota.
      2. To write down briefly or hastily:
      1. The ninth letter of the Greek alphabet.
      2. A very small amount; a bit:
      1. A small, dry, one-seeded fruit of a cereal grass, having the fruit and the seed walls united:
      2. The fruits of cereal grasses especially after having been harvested, considered as a group:
      3. A cereal grass:
      1. A small part broken off or detached.
      2. An incomplete or isolated portion; a bit:
      3. A sentence fragment.
      1. The smallest quantity of liquid heavy enough to fall in a spherical mass.
      2. Liquid medicine administered in drops.
      3. A small quantity of a substance:
      1. A unit of weight in the US Customary System equal to116 of an ounce or 27.34 grains (1.77 grams).
      2. A unit of apothecary weight equal to18 of an ounce or 60 grains (3.89 grams).
      3. A small draft:
      1. A tiny round mark made by or as if by a pointed instrument; a spot.
      2. Such a mark used in orthography, as above an i.
      3. The basic unit of composition for an image produced by a device that prints text or graphics on paper:
      1. To move with haste; rush:
      2. To strike violently; smash:
      3. To break or smash by striking violently:
      1. To apply with short poking strokes:
      2. To cover lightly with or as if with a moist substance:
      3. To rub or pat (something) lightly:
      1. A very small piece broken from a baked item, such as a cookie, cake, or bread.
      2. A small fragment, scrap, or portion:
      3. The soft inner portion of bread.
      1. A small portion, degree, or amount:
      2. A brief amount of time; a moment:
      3. A short scene or episode in a theatrical performance.
    See also:

    big

Verb

  1. To treat lightly or flippantly

      1. An object for a child to play with.
      2. Something that provides amusement:
      3. A small ornament; a bauble.
      1. To occupy oneself in an activity for amusement or recreation:
      2. To take part in a sport or game:
      3. To participate in betting; gamble.
      1. To act as if one is sexually attracted to another person, usually in a playful manner.
      2. To deal playfully, triflingly, or superficially with:
      3. To move abruptly or jerkily:
      1. To play amorously; flirt:
      2. To consider or occupy oneself with something in a careless or unserious fashion; toy.
      3. To dawdle, delay, or linger:
    See also:

    work

  2. To move one's fingers or hands in a nervous or aimless fashion

      1. To turn over or around idly or lightly; fiddle with:
      2. To trifle with something.
      3. To be busy about trifles.
      1. An object for a child to play with.
      2. Something that provides amusement:
      3. A small ornament; a bauble.
      1. A traveling mender of metal household utensils.
      2. A member of any of various traditionally itinerant groups of people living especially in Scotland and Ireland; a traveler.
      3. One who enjoys experimenting with and repairing machine parts.
      1. A short golf club used for putting.
      2. A golfer who is putting.
      1. To occupy oneself in an activity for amusement or recreation:
      2. To take part in a sport or game:
      3. To participate in betting; gamble.
      1. Any of various tailed primates of the suborder Anthropoidea, including the macaques, baboons, capuchins, and marmosets, and excluding the apes.
      2. A nonhuman ape. Not in scientific use.
      3. One who behaves in a way suggestive of a monkey, as a mischievous child or a mimic.
      1. One who is deficient in judgment, sense, or understanding.
      2. One who acts unwisely on a given occasion:
      3. One who has been tricked or made to appear ridiculous; a dupe:
      1. To behave or move nervously or restlessly.
      2. To play or fuss; fiddle:
      3. To cause to behave or move nervously or restlessly.
      1. A violin, especially one used to play folk or country music.
      2. A guardrail used on a table during rough weather to prevent things from slipping off.
      3. Nonsensical, trifling matters:
    See also:

    touch

  3. To make amorous advances without serious intentions

    See also:

    sex

Idioms:

    trifle away

  1. To pass (time) without working or in avoiding work

    2. trifle away

  2. To spend (money) excessively and usually foolishly

© Roget’s II: The New Thesaurus Copyright © 2010 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio. Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Another word for trifle

Noun

  1. A small quantity

      1. A small spot, mark, or discoloration.
      2. A tiny amount; a bit:
      3. To mark with specks.
      1. A thing considered as a unit or an element of a larger thing, quantity, or class; a portion:
      2. A portion or part that has been separated from a whole:
      3. An object that is one member of a group or class:
      1. A very small piece or part; a tiny portion or speck.
      2. A very small or the smallest possible amount, trace, or degree:
      3. A body whose spatial extent and internal motion and structure, if any, are irrelevant in a specific problem.
    See also:

    bit

  2. A small degree

    See also:

    bit

  3. Something of little importance

    See also:

    insignificance

Verb

  1. To act without seriousness

    See also:

    tamper with

    change

  2. To flirt

    See also:

    flirt

    play

Synonym Study

  • Toy implies a trifling or dallying with no purpose beyond that of amusement or idling away time toying with the idea of writing a novel
  • Coquet usually suggests a trifling in matters of love she coquetted with several men in her department
  • Trifle is the general term meaning to treat someone or something without earnestness, full attention, definite purpose, etc. began to trifle with the notion of retirement, trifling with her affections flirt implies a light, transient interest or attention that quickly moves on to another person or thing flirted with several religions before becoming a philosopher dally implies a playing with a subject or thing that one has little or no intention of taking seriously to dally with painting
© WEBSTER’S NEW WORLD® ROGET’S A-Z THESAURUS by Charlton Laird and the editors of Webster’s New World dictionaries. Copyright © 1999 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Sentence Examples

  • "Oh nothing, only a trifle," said Natasha, smilingly still more brightly.

  • That the people themselves did not regard the reform as a trifle is plain from the numerous rebellions against it.

  • His earliest publication, the anonymous pamphlet of The Pentland Rising, had appeared in 1866, and The Charity Bazaar, a trifle in which his future manner is happily displayed, in 1868.

  • He prayed fervently against his idleness; he determined, as often as he received the sacrament, that he would no longer doze away and trifle away his time; but the spell under which he lay resisted prayer and sacrament.

  • We may also mention Cupido Cruciatus, Cupid on the cross; Technopaegion, a literary trifle consisting of a collection of verses ending in monosyllables; Eclogarum Liber, on astronomical and astrological subjects; Epistolae, including letters to Paulinus and Symmachus; lastly, Praefatiunculae, three poetical epistles, one to the emperor Theodosius.

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Words that mention trifle in the Dictionary

Words near trifle in the Thesaurus