triviality

English

Etymology

Etymology tree

English trivial

Proto-Indo-European *-teh₂

Proto-Indo-European *-ts

Proto-Indo-European *-teh₂ts

Latin -itāsder.

Old French -itebor.

Middle English -ite

English -ity

English triviality

From trivial + -ity.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˌtɹɪviˈæləti/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Noun

triviality (countable and uncountable, plural trivialities)

1. (uncountable) The quality of being trivial or unimportant.

   Synonym: fiddle

2. (countable) Something which is trivial or unimportant.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:trifle

   • 1908 October, Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, →OCLC:

     I propose to devote the remainder of mine to it, and can only regret the wasted years that lie behind me, squandered in trivialities.

   • 1922 February–March, Arthur Conan Doyle, “The Problem of Thor Bridge”, in The Case Book of Sherlock Holmes, New York, N.Y.: A[lbert] L[evi] Burt Company, published June 1927, →OCLC, page 172:

     Yes, I have a case. After a month of trivialities and stagnation the wheels move once more.

Synonyms

• (partial): bathos

Derived terms

• nontriviality

Translations

quality of being trivial

• Finnish: tyhjänpäiväisyys (fi), yhdentekevyys
• French: trivialité (fr) f
• Māori: hanganoatanga
• Polish: bagatelność f, błahość (pl) f, trywialność (pl) f
• Russian: тривиа́льность (ru) f (triviálʹnostʹ), бана́льность (ru) f (banálʹnostʹ), малова́жность (ru) f (malovážnostʹ), мелкоте́мье (ru) n (melkotémʹje) (of subject matter)
• Spanish: trivialidad (es) f
• Tamil: அற்பம் (ta) (aṟpam)

something trivial

• Finnish: jonninjoutavuus, tyhjänpäiväisyys (fi)
• Galician: parvada (gl) f
• Polish: bagatela (pl) f
• Spanish: ñanga (es) f (Peru), trivialidad (es) f
• Tamil: அற்பம் (ta) (aṟpam)