nugation

English

Etymology

From Latin nugatio (“chatter”).

Noun

nugation (countable and uncountable, plural nugations)

1. (rare, obsolete) The act or practice of trifling (focusing on the trivial or inconsequential.)
   • 1826, Francis Bacon, The Works of Francis Bacon, page 13:

     As for the received opinion, that putrefaction is caused, either by cold, or peregrine and preternatural heat, it is but nugation: for cold in things inanimate, is the greatest enemy that is to putrefaction […]

Related terms

• nugatory

References

• “nugation”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.