mere trifle
1
4.0
- noun
:
bagatela
- The really valuable bric-a-brac is costly here as elsewhere, but many charming things in common use among the people, pretty proofs of their universal love of beauty, are to be picked up for a mere trifle.
Examples
-
A mere trifle, a mere trifle.
-
"I've been working on a six-line rispetto, a mere trifle, heh," Wenty said.
Fiction book (1999) -
A mere trifle compared to my real work.
-
- Mere trifles, dear boy.
-
A mere trifle, a mere trifle.
-
Compared to that, your demand is a mere trifle—you only want that woman.
Fiction book (1992) -
The comment, unlike the earlier "monkey-hand" remark, is not so easily dismissed as a mere trifle.
Academic text (2000) -
But this is a mere trifle in comparison with the joy of continuing your great struggle; of course, all strictly within the framework of Russia Today’s editorial objectives.
Blog text (21) -
There is no need to dwell on the topic that the wealth of the Celestial Empire, where all five metals are produced and precious deposits abound, could not be exhausted by such a mere trifle, but for what enmity do you want to kill the Chinese people?
Academic text (1993) -
To most people, that old toy is a mere trifle, but to her, it holds sweet memories.
Synonyms
18
4.6
A small unimportant thing not worth any attention
16
3.5
Unimportant words in writing or speech
7
8.4
Useless or unimportant things that distract from what matters
6
3.2
A small point that is not important
6
5.4
A small detail that does not matter
2
9.9
A small unimportant fuss that wastes time
2
9.9
Something of little or no worth
1
9.6
A thing that is not important or worth worrying about
1
9.9
A small unimportant thing not worth worrying about
1
6.1
Too small to be important
A small unimportant thing you do not need
Worthless showy things meant to impress people
A small cheap object with little real value
A very small amount of money or something of little value
A very small amount of money used to say something is not worth much
How Important
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'something trivial or unimportant' is directly and transparently derived from combining 'mere' (emphatic 'only' / 'insignificant') with 'trifle' (an unimportant thing). This straightforward compositional pairing is predictable for a B1 learner who knows both constituents and is cross-linguistically common, so the phrase is transparent.
Etymology
Mere trifle comes from the image of a small dessert called a trifle and the word mere, which means 'only'. That's why mere trifle means 'something small and not important'.