trivial
pronunciation
How to pronounce trivial in British English:
UK [ˈtrɪviəl]
How to pronounce trivial in American English:
US [ˈtrɪviəl]
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- Adjective:
- (informal terms) small and of little importance
- obvious and dull
- of little substance or significance
- concerned with trivialities
- not large enough to consider or notice
Word Origin
- trivial
- trivial: [15] Medieval educationists recognized seven liberal arts: the lower three, grammar, logic, and rhetoric, were known as the trivium, and the upper four, arithmetic, astronomy, geometry, and music, were known as the quadrivium. The notion of ‘less important subjects’ led in the 16th century to the use of the derived adjective trivial for ‘commonplace, of little importance’. Latin trivium itself was a compound noun formed from the prefix tri- ‘three’ and via ‘way, road’, and originally meant ‘place where three roads meet’.=> three, via
- trivial (adj.)
- "ordinary" (1580s); "insignificant, trifling" (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 -- grammar, rhetoric, and logic); from Medieval Latin use of trivialis in the sense "of the first three liberal arts," from trivium, neuter of the Latin adjective trivius "of three roads, of the crossroads." Related: Trivially. For sense evolution to "pertaining to useless information," see trivia.
Antonym
Example
- 1. This isn 't some abstract debate or trivial argument .
- 2. The other stuff is too trivial to fuss over .
- 3. Trivial conversations over instant messaging can mutate into trades .
- 4. Despite the largely trivial political differences between the country 's two main parties , polish politics is sharply polarised .
- 5. These are not trivial concerns .