trifle
Syllables: tri·fle/ˈtɹaɪfəl/
trifle noun: an English dessert made from a mixture of thick custard, fruit, sponge cake, jelly and whipped cream.
Noun
trifle (countable and uncountable, plural trifles)
- An English dessert made from a mixture of thick custard, fruit, sponge cake, jelly and whipped cream.
- It is interesting to watch the surface joviality on screen while racism is layered between courses like soggy trifles.2020 May 27, Kieran Yates, “Fifteen years of TV dinners: why Come Dine With Me has endured”, in The Guardian, →ISSN
- Anything that is of little importance or worth.
- Trifles light as air / Are to the jealous confirmation strong / As proofs of holy writ.c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Othello, the Moore of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac...
- Olde Chaucer doth of Topas tell, / Mad Rablais of Pantagruell, / A latter third of Dowsabell, / With such poore trifles playing:1627, Michaell [i.e., Michael] Drayton, “Nimphidia. The Court of Fayrie.”, in The Battaile of Agincourt. […], London: […] [Augustine Matthews] for William Lee, […], →OCLC
- An insignificant amount of money.
- A trifle, some eight-penny matter.c. 1597 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Fourth, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and...
- He told her of horses which he had bought for a trifle and sold for incredible sums […]1803 (date written), [Jane Austen], Northanger Abbey; published in Northanger Abbey: And Persuasion. […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: John Murray, […], 20 December 1817...
- A very small amount (of something).
- This Line leaves out […] Poplar and Black-vvall, vvhich are indeed contiguous, a Trifle of Ground excepted, and very populous.1742, [Daniel Defoe], “Letter II. Containing A Description of the City of London.”, in A Tour thro’ the Whole Island of Great Britain. […], 3rd edition, volume II, London: […] J[ohn] Osborn, […]...
- There was a good deal of rustling and whispering behind the curtain, a trifle of lamp smoke, and an occasional giggle from Amy […]1868, Louisa M[ay] Alcott, chapter 2, in Little Women: […], 1st part, Boston, Mass.: Roberts Brothers, published 1869, →OCLC
- A particular kind of pewter.
- Utensils made from this particular kind of pewter.
Verb
trifle (third-person singular simple present trifles, present participle trifling, simple past and past participle trifled)
- To deal with something as if it were of little importance or worth.
- You must not trifle with her affections.
- […] Do not believe / That, from the sense of all civility, / I thus would play and trifle with your reverence:c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Othello, the Moore of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac...
- To act, speak, or otherwise behave with jest.
- […] playing and trifling are completely banished out of my mind […]1847 December, Ellis Bell [pseudonym; Emily Brontë], chapter 27, in Wuthering Heights: […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Thomas Cautley Newby, […], →OCLC
- But he was terribly roused too and bound to go on; he wasn’t just trifling but intended something.1953 September 18, Saul Bellow, chapter XIX, in The Adventures of Augie March […], New York, N.Y.: The Viking Press, →OCLC, page 405
- To inconsequentially toy with something.
- Mr. Micawber, leaning back in his chair, trifled with his eye-glass and cast his eyes up at the ceiling […]1849 May – 1850 November, Charles Dickens, chapter 28, in The Personal History of David Copperfield, London: Bradbury & Evans, […], published 1850, →OCLC
- She sat in a café, trifling with her coffee spoon.1965, Muriel Spark, The Mandelbaum Gate, New York: Fawcett, published 1967, Part 1, Chapter 6, p. 151
- Synonyms:
- fiddle
- To squander or waste.
- We trifle time: I pray thee, pursue sentence.c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward]...
- For an honest and sober man will rather make that woman his wife, whom he seeth employed continually about her business, than one who makes it her business to trifle away her own and others time.1677, Hannah Woolley, The Compleat Servant-Maid, London: T. Passinger, page 62
- To make a trifle of, to make trivial.
- […] but this sore night / Hath trifled former knowings.c. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount...
trifle meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Bengali
trifle in Hindi
- trifle, an easy task or matter
- ठट्ठा ṭhaṭṭhā
trifle in Tamil
- trifle
- பிசாத்து picāttu, பொட்டு poṭṭu, மாசு mācu
- trifle, that which is small or insignificant
- சொற்பம் coṟpam
trifle in Urdu
- To deal with something as if it were of little importance or worth
- ناچیزشے Nachíz she
trifle in Bengali
- তুচ্ছ বস্তু, সামান্য জিনিস
More languagesFewer languages
- trifle in Malayalam
- നിസ്സാരവസ്തു, നിസ്സാരസംഗതി, നിരർത്ഥകവസ്തു
- trifle in Kannada
- ನಸು
- trifle in Thai
- ทรัยเฟิล thrạyfeil
- trifle in Vietnamese
- trifle
Examples of trifle in a sentence
- ‘And all about a rattle!’ said Alice, still hoping to make them a little ashamed of fighting for such a trifle.1871 December 27 (indicated as 1872), Lewis Carroll [pseudonym; Charles Lutwidge Dodgson], Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found...
- I assumed it would be a trifle.” / “Well, until a few months ago it was a trifle.”1976 September, Saul Bellow, Humboldt’s Gift, New York, N.Y.: Avon Books, →ISBN, page 462:
- “Take just a trifle of French mustard […]”1932, Graham Greene, Stamboul Strain, London: Heinemann, Part 4, p. 180:
- “Miss Bennet,” replied her ladyship, in an angry tone, “you ought to know, that I am not to be trifled with […]”1813 January 27, [Jane Austen], chapter 56, in Pride and Prejudice: […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: […] [George...
Synonyms of trifle
30 more synonymsFewer synonyms
Forms of trifle
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | trifles |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | trifles |
| present participle | trifling |
| past participle | trifled |
| past | trifled |
Origin of trifle
From Middle English trifle, trifel, triful, trefle, truyfle, trufful, from Old French trufle (“mockery”), a byform of trufe, truffe (“deception”), of uncertain origin.
Words formed from trifle
Words that rhyme with trifle
Questions about trifle
- What does trifle mean?
- Trifle means an English dessert made from a mixture of thick custard, fruit, sponge cake, jelly and whipped cream.
- What is trifle in Hindi?
- Trifle in Hindi is ठट्ठा (ṭhaṭṭhā). See Trifle meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use trifle in a sentence?
- ‘And all about a rattle!’ said Alice, still hoping to make them a little ashamed of fighting for such a trifle.
- What part of speech is trifle?
- Trifle can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce trifle?
- Trifle is pronounced /ˈtɹaɪfəl/.
- What is the plural of trifle?
- The plural of trifle is trifles.
Words near trifle in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: trifle (page history and authors); ठट्ठा (Hindi) (page history and authors); சொற்பம் (Tamil) (page history and authors); trifle (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); trifle (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); trifle (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.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Naomi Persephone Amethyst (NaomiAmethyst)-trifle.wav.
Cite this entry: “trifle.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/trifle. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.