frivolous
Syllables: friv·o·lous/ˈfɹɪv.ə.ləs/
frivolous adjective: silly, especially at an inappropriate time or in an inappropriate manner; lacking a good reason for being, or for doing what one does; due to or moved by a caprice or whim.
Adjective
frivolous (comparative more frivolous, superlative most frivolous)
- Silly, especially at an inappropriate time or in an inappropriate manner; lacking a good reason for being, or for doing what one does; due to or moved by a caprice or whim.
- trifling ((literary)
- Of little weight or importance; not worth notice; slight; trivial.
- Synonyms:
- base, contemptible, floccinaucinihilipilificatious, foolish, for the birds, futile, idle, ignorable, immaterial, inconsequential
- Having no reasonable prospect of success because its claim is without merit, lacking a supporting legal or factual basis, while the filing party is, or should be, aware of this.
- There is no easy definition for the phrase 'frivolous lawsuit,' but I imagine any claim for damages where the injuries are minimal or where the basis for the defendant's liability is hard to believe, might qualify as frivolous.1996 August 31, Paul F. Waldner, President-Elect, Houston Trial Lawyers Association, “Viewpoints”, in Houston Chronicle, archived from the original on 16 Apr 2005
- One of the major cost drivers in the delivery of health care are these junk and frivolous lawsuits.2005, Factcheck.org
frivolous meaning in Tamil, Urdu, Bengali and Malayalam
frivolous in Tamil
- எண்மையான, சிறுமையான, விளையாட்டுத் தனமான
frivolous in Urdu
- البیلا, بےہودہ, سبک
frivolous in Bengali
- অপ্রয়োজনীয়, অগম্ভীর, তুচ্ছ
frivolous in Malayalam
- flighty, skittish, giddy
- ഗൗരവബുദ്ധിയില്ലാത്ത, ക്രീഡാശീലമായ, ചപലമായ, ഇളക്കമുള്ള, വിലുളിത, ചഞ്ചലമായ
- facetious, flippant, glib
- ബാലിശമായ, ഗൗരവമില്ലാത്ത, കഴമ്പില്ലാത്ത, വാക്ചപലമായ, നിസ്സാര, വിലകുറഞ്ഞ
- trivial, time-wasting, pointless
- നിസ്സാര, നിഷ്പ്രയോജനമായ, സമയംമിനക്കെടുത്തുന്ന, അർത്ഥശൂന്യമായ, കഴമ്പില്ലാത്ത, അർത്ഥമില്ലാത്ത
More languagesFewer languages
- frivolous in Kannada
- ಹುಡುಗಾಟದ, ವಿವೇಕವಿಲ್ಲದ, ಐಷಾರಾಮದ, ಬೆಡಗಿನ
- frivolous in Malay
- semberono, sambil lewa, remeh-temeh
Examples of frivolous in a sentence
- His legalistic tendencies irritated his neighbors, especially since they had to defend themselves against his frivolous suits.
- Whether his appeal is decided by coin-toss or some more frivolous method remains to be seen.
- They had little or no association with the Natalie Barney set, in their eyes much too frivolous.
Synonyms of frivolous
- base
- contemptible
- foolish
- for the birds
- futile
- idle
- ignorable
- immaterial
- inconsequential
- inconsiderable
30 more synonymsFewer synonyms
Forms of frivolous
| comparative | more frivolous |
|---|---|
| superlative | most frivolous |
Origin of frivolous
From Latin frīvolus (“silly, empty, trifling, frivolous, worthless”), with the ending modified to match -ous.
Words formed from frivolous
Questions about frivolous
- What does frivolous mean?
- Frivolous means silly, especially at an inappropriate time or in an inappropriate manner; lacking a good reason for being, or for doing what one does; due to or moved by a caprice or whim.
- What is frivolous in Tamil?
- Frivolous in Tamil is எண்மையான, சிறுமையான, விளையாட்டுத் தனமான. See Frivolous meaning in Tamil.
- What part of speech is frivolous?
- Frivolous is an adjective.
- How do you pronounce frivolous?
- Frivolous is pronounced /ˈfɹɪv.ə.ləs/.
Words near frivolous in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: frivolous (page history and authors); frivolous (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); frivolous (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); frivolous (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); frivolous (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license); frivolous (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-frivolous.ogg, en-au-frivolous.ogg.
Cite this entry: “frivolous.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/frivolous. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.