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“trivial”
paltry, petty, trivial
paltry (PAWL tree) (adjective)
Trivial, meager, measly, inferior: The miser gave a paltry donation to the fund for hungry children.
The quality of the paltry language used by Ernest made it difficult for his listeners to understand what he was trying to say.
petty (PET ee) (adjective)
1. Of secondary or of little or no importance: Philip and Trudy often engaged in petty arguments that went nowhere.
2. Characterized as being narrow-minded; intolerant; limited: Bryan appeared to be a petty individual who was not interested in new music or challenging art.
2. Characterized as being narrow-minded; intolerant; limited: Bryan appeared to be a petty individual who was not interested in new music or challenging art.
trivial (TRIV ee uhl) (adjective)
Ordinary, not very important: It was a day filled with trivial activities.
Compared to the problems other countries are having, the trivial inconveniences we have are insignificant.
It seemed petty to argue about the paltry quality of the poultry when less trivial matters needed to be considered.
This entry is located in the following unit:
Confusing Words Clarified: Group P; Homonyms, Homophones, Homographs, Synonyms, Polysemes, etc. +
(page 1)
trivial (adjective), more trivial, most trivial
1. Of little significance or value.
2. Ordinary; commonplace.
3. Concerned with or involving nothing of importance..
4. Etymology: The adjective trivialis, which was derived from trivium, was literally rendered as "pertaining to a crossroads" and was used in Latin to mean "common" or "ordinary"; probably from the belief that things found at such a public place as a crossroads, where all the world may pass by, are generally common things.
2. Ordinary; commonplace.
3. Concerned with or involving nothing of importance..
4. Etymology: The adjective trivialis, which was derived from trivium, was literally rendered as "pertaining to a crossroads" and was used in Latin to mean "common" or "ordinary"; probably from the belief that things found at such a public place as a crossroads, where all the world may pass by, are generally common things.
The idea that people often stop where roads meet to pass the time of day with small talk may also have influenced the development of this sense. At any rate, trivial was recorded with the meaning most familiar to us, "of little importance or significance" and "commonplace".