- 1微不足道的、不值一提的（多用於書面或正式場合）
Trifling means so small or that it is not worth bothering about — a trifling sum of money, a trifling mistake, a trifling difference between two plans. The word does more than measure size; it judges. When a speaker calls something trifling, they are telling you to stop worrying about it, or, when they are , that someone else made a fuss over nothing. It often appears with money, where 'a trifling amount' means an amount so small it is almost an insult. It is a formal, old-fashioned, rather literary word — you meet it in novels, legal writing and speeches far more than in conversation, where people say tiny, minor, or 'no big deal'. Careful: in African American English, 'trifling' is a live and quite different insult for a person who is lazy, useless, or does not do right by others — 'that trifling man'. A student who reads only the dictionary sense will misread that completely.
組成trifle + -ing. A trifle is a thing of little value, so trifling is 'being of little value'. (In Britain a trifle is also a dessert of cake, fruit and cream — the same word, from the idea of something light and slight.)
同家族的字
- triflethe root noun and verb: a thing of no importance
原始詞典資料5 筆記錄
以下是外部詞典記錄的用法，摘錄並精簡格式，我們還沒有寫成教學內容。上面的說明才是我們自己寫的；有些用法可能上面已經講過了。
triflingadj/ˈtɹaɪfliŋ/
- 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.
- However, upon a ſtrict Review, I blotted out ſeveral Paſſages of leſs Moment which were in my firſt Copy, for fear of being cenſured as tedious and trifling, whereof Travellers are often, perhaps not without Juſtice, accuſed.
- 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
Good-for-nothing; shady or lazy; scrub.
- You trifling good for nothin’ type of brother.
- My hand was aching to slap that silly heifer. I told her to take her trifling ass down to Burger King and get herself a job flipping burgers […]
triflingnoun/ˈtɹaɪfliŋ/
- 1
The act of one who trifles; frivolous behaviour.
- 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.
這個拼法也被記錄為下列字的變化形：
摘錄自 英文維基詞典 English Wiktionary，已精簡格式；依 CC BY-SA 4.0 授權使用，改動後的內容同樣以此授權提供。