All 29 Uses of
trifle
in
Mansfield Park
- Do not let us be frightened from a good deed by a trifle.
Chpt 1 (definition 1)trifle = something that is unimportant
- The fatigue, too, of so long a journey, became soon no trifling evil.
Chpt 2 (definition 1)trifling = small
- I have nobody else to care for, but I should be very glad to think I could leave a little trifle among them worth their having.
Chpt 3 (definition 1)trifle = a small amount (of money or valuable goods)
- The soup would be sent round in a most spiritless manner, wine drank without any smiles or agreeable trifling, and the venison cut up without supplying one pleasant anecdote of any former haunch, or a single entertaining story, about "my friend such a one."†
Chpt 6 (definition 1)
- The sisters, handsome, clever, and encouraging, were an amusement to his sated mind; and finding nothing in Norfolk to equal the social pleasures of Mansfield, he gladly returned to it at the time appointed, and was welcomed thither quite as gladly by those whom he came to trifle with further.
Chpt 12 (definition 2)trifle with = treat thoughtlessly or without respect
- "A trifling part," said he, "and not at all to my taste, and such a one as I certainly would not accept again; but I was determined to make no difficulties."
Chpt 13 (definition 1)trifling = small
- The business of finding a play that would suit everybody proved to be no trifle; and the carpenter had received his orders and taken his measurements, had suggested and removed at least two sets of difficulties, and having made the necessity of an enlargement of plan and expense fully evident, was already at work, while a play was still to seek.
Chpt 14 (definition 1)trifle = small thing
- Here are two capital tragic parts for Yates and Crawford, and here is the rhyming Butler for me, if nobody else wants it; a trifling part, but the sort of thing I should not dislike, and, as I said before, I am determined to take anything and do my best.
Chpt 14 (definition 1)trifling = small
- If the part is trifling she will have more credit in making something of it;
Chpt 14 (definition 1)trifling = small and unimportant
- "The Count has two-and-forty speeches," returned Mr. Rushworth, "which is no trifle."
Chpt 15 (definition 1)trifle = small thing
- I am quite ashamed of you, Fanny, to make such a difficulty of obliging your cousins in a trifle of this sort—so kind as they are to you!
Chpt 15 (definition 1)
- Henry Crawford had trifled with her feelings; but she had very long allowed and even sought his attentions, with a jealousy of her sister so reasonable as ought to have been their cure; and now that the conviction of his preference for Maria had been forced on her, she submitted to it without any alarm for Maria's situation, or any endeavour at rational tranquillity for herself.
Chpt 17 (definition 2) *trifled with = treated thoughtlessly or without respect
- He had learned his part—all his parts, for he took every trifling one that could be united with the Butler, and began to be impatient to be acting;
Chpt 18 (definition 1)trifling = small and unimportant
- We have just been trying, by way of doing something, and amusing my mother, just within the last week, to get up a few scenes, a mere trifle.
Chpt 19 (definition 1)trifle = small thing
- In his departure Sir Thomas felt the chief interest: wanting to be alone with his family, the presence of a stranger superior to Mr. Yates must have been irksome; but of him, trifling and confident, idle and expensive, it was every way vexatious.
Chpt 20 (definition 1)trifling = concerned with unimportant things
- Such a trifle is not worth half so many words.
Chpt 26 (definition 1)trifle = small thing
- You will find the beginning of a note to yourself; but I can now speak my business, which is merely to beg your acceptance of this little trifle—a chain for William's cross.
Chpt 27 (definition 1)
- She considered it all as nonsense, as mere trifling and gallantry, which meant only to deceive for the hour; she could not but feel that it was treating her improperly and unworthily, and in such a way as she had not deserved; but it was like himself, and entirely of a piece with what she had seen before; and she would not allow herself to shew half the displeasure she felt, because he had been conferring an obligation, which no want of delicacy on his part could make a trifle to her.†
Chpt 31 (definition 1)
- ...and she would not allow herself to shew half the displeasure she felt, because he had been conferring an obligation, which no want of delicacy on his part could make a trifle to her.
Chpt 31 (definition 1)trifle = small thing
- She would not have him be serious, and yet what could excuse the use of such words and offers, if they meant but to trifle?†
Chpt 31 (definition 1)
- She wondered that Sir Thomas could have leisure to think of such a trifle again; but she soon found, from the voluntary information of the housemaid, who came in to attend it, that so it was to be every day.
Chpt 32 (definition 1)trifle = small thing
- Lady Bertram's being just on the other side of the table was a trifle, for she might always be considered as only half-awake, and Edmund's advertisements were still of the first utility.
Chpt 34 (definition 1)
- They really go on Monday; and I was within a trifle of being persuaded to stay at Lessingby till that very day!
Chpt 35 (definition 1)trifle = small amount
- If tenderness could be ever supposed wanting, good sense and good breeding supplied its place; and as to the little irritations sometimes introduced by aunt Norris, they were short, they were trifling, they were as a drop of water to the ocean, compared with the ceaseless tumult of her present abode.
Chpt 39 (definition 1) *trifling = unimportant
- To be losing such pleasures was no trifle; to be losing them, because she was in the midst of closeness and noise, to have confinement, bad air, bad smells, substituted for liberty, freshness, fragrance, and verdure, was infinitely worse: but even these incitements to regret were feeble, compared with what arose from the conviction of being missed by her best friends, and the longing to be useful to those who were wanting her!
Chpt 45 (definition 1)trifle = small thing
- I looked upon him as the sort of person to be made a fuss with, and to make a fuss himself in any trifling disorder, and was chiefly concerned for those who had to nurse him; but now it is confidently asserted that he is really in a decline, that the symptoms are most alarming, and that part of the family, at least, are aware of it.
Chpt 45 (definition 1)trifling = unimportant
- Write to me by return of post, judge of my anxiety, and do not trifle with it.
Chpt 45 (definition 2)trifle with = treat thoughtlessly
- Her eager defence of her brother, her hope of its being hushed up, her evident agitation, were all of a piece with something very bad; and if there was a woman of character in existence, who could treat as a trifle this sin of the first magnitude, who would try to gloss it over, and desire to have it unpunished, she could believe Miss Crawford to be the woman!
Chpt 46 (definition 1)trifle = small thing
- He was not very solid; but there was a hope of his becoming less trifling, of his being at least tolerably domestic and quiet; and at any rate, there was comfort in finding his estate rather more, and his debts much less, than he had feared, and in being consulted and treated as the friend best worth attending to.
Chpt 48 (definition 1)trifling = concerned with unimportant things
Definitions:
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(1) (trifle as in: a trifling matter) something of small importance; or a small quantity
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(2) (trifle with as in: trifle with her affections) to treat somebody or something thoughtlessly or without respect