Definition

1. Adjective:
   • Of little value or importance: Describing something that is insignificant, minor, or not worthy of serious attention.
   • Concerned with unimportant matters: Describing a person, mind, or conversation that focuses on superficial or petty details.
   • Commonplace or ordinary: Describing something that is everyday, usual, or lacking special distinction.

Examples of Usage

• Adjective:
  • The report was delayed due to a trivial technical error. (The error was minor and unimportant.)
  • He dismissed her objections as trivial. (He considered her objections to be insignificant.)
  • She grew tired of their trivial gossip. (The gossip was about unimportant, petty matters.)

Advanced Usage

• "a trivial matter": a subject or issue of little importance.
  • Let's not waste time on such a trivial matter.
• "trivial pursuit": an activity concerned with unimportant things; also the name of a board game testing knowledge of obscure facts.
  • He considered celebrity news to be a trivial pursuit.
• "trivial solution" (Mathematics): a solution that is obvious or simple, often the default case.
  • The equation had both a complex solution and a trivial one.

Variants and Related Words

• Triviality (noun): the quality of being trivial; a trivial detail or thing.
  • He was bored by the trivialities of daily life.
• Trivialize (verb): to make something seem less important, serious, or complex than it really is.
  • We must not trivialize the challenges they face.

Synonyms

• Insignificant: too small or unimportant to be worth consideration.
• Petty: of little importance; trivial (often with a connotation of being small-minded).
• Negligible: so small or unimportant as to be not worth considering.
• Superficial: existing or occurring at or on the surface; not thorough, deep, or complete.

Antonyms

• Important: of great significance or value.
• Significant: sufficiently great or important to be worthy of attention.
• Crucial: of great importance.
• Substantial: of considerable importance, size, or worth.

Related Idioms and Phrases

• "Trivial in the grand scheme of things": unimportant when considered in a broader or more significant context.
  • Our daily worries are often trivial in the grand scheme of things.
• "Make a mountain out of a molehill" (related concept): to exaggerate a trivial problem.
  • You're making a mountain out of a molehill; it's just a trivial mistake.

Adjective

1. concerned with trivialities
   • a trivial young woman
   • a trivial mind
2. of little substance or significance
   • a few superficial editorial changes
   • only trivial objections
3. (informal) small and of little importance
   • a fiddling sum of money
   • a footling gesture
   • our worries are lilliputian compared with those of countries that are at war
   • a little (or small) matter
   • a dispute over niggling details
   • limited to petty enterprises
   • piffling efforts
   • giving a police officer a free meal may be against the law, but it seems to be a picayune infraction