Triflings

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Items or matters of little importance or value
2. Trivial or insignificant things that are often disregarded
3. Activities or concerns that lack substance and are considered minor or petty

Etymology: "Triflings" is the plural of "trifling," a noun for minor, unimportant matters. The noun is built from "trifle" and the suffix "-ing," which in this case turns the base into a noun naming things of that kind. The plural adds its usual -s, so "triflings" refers to several such small matters at once. "Trifle" itself is the older and more interesting part of the family. It came into English from Old French, where "trufle" and related forms meant a joke or idle talk, and its earlier roots point toward the sense of deceiving or mocking. A trifle, then, was first something frivolous or nonsensical rather than something small in size or value.

Synonyms: trivialities, nothings, nonentities, insignificances, minutiae

Antonyms: essentials, importants, significants, majorities, fundamentals