trifle
Example Sentences
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The game badly misses Alcaraz—“Tennis needs him,” Sinner said Sunday—but no tennis player should trifle with a bad wrist.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 12, 2026
Still, it is the frolicsome rapport between the two stars that gives this comic trifle of a play its allure.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 20, 2026
This tour has ended like all the others – injuries, collapses in form and a selection trifle.
From BBC ● Jan. 6, 2026
Rachel’s trifle is “Friends” legend in large part because Joey actually likes it.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 24, 2025
By the standards of today, crater research in the early 1900s was a trifle unsophisticated, to say the least.
From "A Short History of Nearly Everything" by Bill Bryson
As the judge in that case noted, the law is not concerned with insignificant trifles.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 26, 2025
She’s interested in adding regular savories such as pasties and sausage rolls, and maybe bringing new treats such as trifles or Eton Messes to her roster.
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 13, 2024
Other, seemingly familiar terms — romper room, sherry trifles — have their innocence stripped from them to reveal a second, more sinister meaning.
From Washington Post ● Oct. 28, 2022
Such trifles usually have a limited shelf life, but not this one.
From Salon ● Apr. 23, 2021
“He trifles here,” said he, “as to the temptation. He knows he is wrong, and has nothing rational to urge.—Bad.—He ought not to have formed the engagement.—‘His father’s disposition:’—he is unjust, however, to his father.
From "Emma" by Jane Austen
“They trifled with us today,” Mr. Trump said Thursday.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 8, 2026
Her aim is to silence the messenger and leave the impression that she isn’t to be trifled with by the media, shades of Margaret Thatcher.
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 16, 2024
From eating holes in people's brains to generating nasty tumors to putting folks in comas, some fungi are not to be trifled with.
From Salon ● Mar. 22, 2023
Sleep is not to be trifled with; there is nothing low-stakes about it.
From Washington Post ● Jan. 16, 2023
“It reminded everyone that you are my apprentice, and you are not to be trifled with!”
From "Scythe" by Neal Shusterman
The traffic cone guys weren't letting such trifling issues dampen their day.
From BBC ● Jun. 20, 2026
But it’s the songs that talk about brushing off stifling, trifling men, including the title track and “What Have You Done For Me Lately,” that have the most staying power.
From Salon ● Apr. 11, 2026
Before IMG and ProServ, athletes typically got trifling rewards for endorsing products.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 21, 2026
Frankly, the more trifling the crime, the better this franchise’s comedy aspirations would work.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 24, 2025
“Well, he run off with that trifling Peggy—from Elyria. You know.”
From "The Bluest Eye" by Toni Morrison
Vocabulary lists containing trifle
"The Tell-Tale Heart" by Edgar Allan Poe
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Unit 1: Telling Details
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"The Landlady" by Roald Dahl
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