trifle
noun · verb
Simple meaning
Anything that is of little importance or worth.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
tryfuhlSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈtɹaɪfəl
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
figurative
Anything that is of little importance or worth.
cooking
A cold pudding made of layers of sponge cake spread with fruit or jelly; may be decorated with nuts, cream, or chocolate
cooking
An English dessert made from a mixture of thick custard, fruit, sponge cake, jelly and whipped cream.
An insignificant amount of money.
figurative
A very small amount (of something).
uncountable
Utensils made from this particular kind of pewter.
verb
intransitive
To deal with something as if it were of little importance or worth.
Waste time; spend one's time idly or inefficiently
transitive
To squander or waste.
intransitive
To act, speak, or otherwise behave with jest.
intransitive
To inconsequentially toy with something.
Act frivolously
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Anything that is of little importance or worth.
Used this way, trifle is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It suits considered writing and prepared speech.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Serious and weighty
- Usage feel
- Formal and precise
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
Sense: anything that is of little importance or worth
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.