# trifle

Pronunciation: say "TRY-fuhl" /ˈtɹaɪfəl/

## Noun

1. Something of little importance or worth.
   - Simple: Something that is not important or not worth much.
   - _The brothers stopped speaking for years over what both later admitted was a trifle._
   - _A busy manager has no time for trifles like the color of the meeting-room chairs._
2. An English dessert that combines sponge cake, fruit, gelatin, thick custard and whipped cream in one dish.
   - Simple: An English sweet dish made with cake, fruit, gelatin, custard and whipped cream.
   - _She built the trifle in a glass bowl so guests could see the bands of custard and fruit._
   - _The sherry-soaked trifle was the first dish to disappear from the buffet._
3. A tiny amount of something, such as a pinch of spice or a wisp of smoke.
   - Simple: Just a little bit of something.
   - _Stir in a trifle of grated nutmeg just before serving._
   - _When the candle went out, a trifle of smoke curled toward the ceiling._
5. A sum of money so small that it hardly matters.
   - Simple: A very small amount of money.
   - _The painting sold for a trifle in 1950 and is worth millions today._
   - _To a company that size, a thousand-dollar fine is a mere trifle._
9. A particular kind of pewter.
   - Simple: One kind of pewter, a metal made mostly of tin.
   - _The museum's collection includes buckles and spoons cast in trifle._
   - _Molten trifle was poured into the brass molds to make a batch of small buttons._
10. Utensils made from the particular kind of pewter known as trifle.
   - Simple: Spoons, cups and other things for the table made from a certain kind of pewter.
   - _A shelf of polished trifle stood beside the hearth in the restored farmhouse._
   - _The museum shows its trifle, a few plates, spoons and drinking cups, in a glass case beside the silver._

## Verb

4. To treat someone or something lightly, as if of little importance or worth.
   - Simple: To treat someone or something as if they do not matter.
   - _Nobody who knows this stretch of coast would trifle with a storm warning._
   - _She had trifled with his affections for months before ending things by text._
6. To toy idly with something, handling it without any real purpose.
   - Simple: To play with something in your hands without really thinking about it.
   - _Nervous speakers often trifle with their notes instead of looking at the audience._
   - _She sat by the window, trifling with the ring on her finger._
7. To act or speak in a joking, unserious way.
   - Simple: To joke around or act in a silly way, not seriously.
   - _We have no time to trifle; the deadline is tomorrow morning._
   - _She thought he was trifling, but he meant every word of the proposal._
8. To waste or squander something, especially time, carelessly and to no purpose.
   - Simple: To waste something, like your time, in a careless way.
   - _Too many students trifle away the first weeks of the semester and panic before exams._
   - _She regretted having trifled away her twenties in jobs she did not care about._

## Verb

11. To make something trivial, so that it seems of little importance. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: To make something seem small and not important.

## Origin

From Middle English trifle, trufle, from Old French trufle (“mockery”), a variant of trufe, truffe (“deception”), whose origin is uncertain.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/trifle (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).