trivial

adjnot important

Word Origin & History

"ordinary" (1580s); "insignificant" (1590s), from Latin trivialis "common, commonplace, vulgar," literally "of or belonging to the crossroads," from trivium "place where three roads meet," in transferred use, "an open place, a public place," from tri- "three" (see three) + via "road" (see via). The sense connection is "public," hence "common, commonplace."

The earliest use of the word in English was early 15c., a separate borrowing in the academic sense "of the trivium" (the first three liberal arts); from a Medieval Latin use of trivialis in the sense "of the trivium," from trivium as neuter of the Latin adjective trivius "of three roads." Cf. trivia. Related: Trivially. The board game Trivial Pursuit was released 1982 and was a craze in U.S. for several years thereafter.

Example Sentences for trivial

You've made me your butt, your fool, your doer of trivial offices.

He was a gentleman, but the trivial fact is of small avail to-day.

And at least it was not a trivial view, nor an ill meant one.

His tone was as level as if he were discussing some trivial matter.

On Mike's face was a map of disaster; the disaster might be trivial or great.

What had seemed so real to him then he feared to-day to face, as trivial and weak.

The subjects were trivial in themselves, and repeated endlessly.

My smallest action, my most trivial habit, was familiar to them.

Grant laid a finger upon his arm and drawled his solution of a trivial mystery.

But the loss of her mother was to Hetty a trivial one, in comparison with the loss of her father.

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common

adjective. average, ordinary

dispensable

adjective. not necessary; able to be thrown away

trivial

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common

commonest

dispensable

empty

excusable

flimsy

trivial

Synonyms for trivial

Antonyms for trivial

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.css-1unrqcp{color:inherit;-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;}common

commonest

dispensable

empty

excusable

flimsy

common