2 meanings
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1 —as in:
trifle with her affections
Definition
to treat somebody or something thoughtlessly or without respect- She is not a woman to trifle with or ignore.
trifle with = treat thoughtlessly or without respect
Other Uses (with this meaning)
- The European Parliament refuses to be trifled with.
- ...she was not to be trifled with.Louisa May Alcott -- Little Women
- ...asked Phoebe, with impatient surprise that Holgrave should so trifle with her at such a moment.Nathaniel Hawthorne -- The House of the Seven Gables
- But a Judge may not trifle with the Law because the society is defective.Alan Paton -- Cry, the Beloved Country
- Confident as I am that you will not trifle with this appeal, my heart sinks and my hand trembles at the bare thought of such a possibility.Robert Louis Stevenson -- Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
- I don't trifle with him; but then, I have nothing to do with him.Thomas Hardy -- Far from the Madding Crowd
- The thing failed this time, however, so the boys shouldered their tools and went away feeling that they had not trifled with fortune, but had fulfilled all the requirements that belong to the business of treasure-hunting.Mark Twain -- The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
- And now, men and women of America, is this a thing to be trifled with, apologized for, and passed over in silence?Harriet Beecher Stowe -- Uncle Tom's Cabin
- A mother's love, that's not somethin' to be trifled with.Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl -- Beautiful Creatures
trifled with = treated without respect
trifled with = treated thoughtlessly or without respect
trifle with = treat thoughtlessly or without respect
trifle with = treat thoughtlessly or without respect
trifle with = treat thoughtlessly or without respect
trifle with = treat thoughtlessly or without respect
trifled with = treated thoughtlessly or without respect
2 —as in:
a trifling matter
Definition
something of small importance; or a small quantity- Don't waste my time with trifling matters.
trifling = things of little importance
Other Uses (with this meaning)
- We all agree with the goal, but how to achieve it is not a trifling matter.
- and happened to raise her skirt a trifle too high above her anklesNathaniel Hawthorne -- The House of the Seven Gables
- ...for as Father says, trifles show character.Louisa May Alcott -- Little Women
- You should never fret about trifles.Jane Austen -- Northanger Abbey
- Not just a trifle evil. Monstrously evil.John Gardner -- Grendel
- But by and by the thing dragged through, and everything was sold —everything but a little old trifling lot in the graveyard.Mark Twain -- The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
- She prizes not such trifles as these are:William Shakespeare -- The Winter's Tale
- Wilson showed a trifle of irritation when he replied...Mark Twain -- Pudd'nhead Wilson
- The door stood a trifle ajar.Mark Twain -- A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court
trifling = small (of little importance)
trifle = little (a small amount)
trifles = small unimportant things
trifles = unimportant things
trifle = little (in amount)
trifling = something of small importance
trifles = things of small importance
trifle = a small amount
trifle = little