Trifling
adj, noun, verb ·Common ·High school level
Definitions
- 1 The act of one who trifles; frivolous behaviour. countable, uncountable
"He writes on the principle, of course, that in one's dotage we are privileged to return to the triflings of our infancy, and that Downing Street cannot be better employed in these days than as a chapel of ease to Eton."
- 2 the deliberate act of delaying and playing instead of working wordnet
- 1 present participle and gerund of trifle form-of, gerund, participle, present
- 1 Trivial, or of little importance.
"[…] It is not ſo decorous in reſpect of God, that he ſhould αὐτουργεῖν ἅπαντα [autourgeîn hápanta], ſet his ovvn hand as it vvere to every vvork, and immediately do all the meaneſt and triflingſt things himſelf drudgingly, vvithout making uſe of any inferior or ſubordinate Miniſters."
- 2 Frivolous.
"For, really, as it is a trifling Age, ſo nothing but Trifles are valued in it. Men read none but trifling Authors, purſue none but trifling Amusements, and contend for none but trifling Opinions. A trifling Fellow is prefer'd, a trifling Woman admir'd."
- 3 Nasty or dirty.
"Then she said she doesn’t take showers, that’s just trifling."
- 4 Good-for-nothing; shady or lazy; scrub.
"You trifling good for nothin’ type of brother."
- 1 not worth considering wordnet
Example
More examples"Their trouble stems from a trifling matter."
Etymology
By surface analysis, trifle + -ing.
More for "trifling"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.