Meanings
comparative more trivial · superlative most trivial · alternative obsolete triviall
- Ignorable; of little significance or value.
"All which details, I have no doubt, Jones, who reads this book at his Club, will pronounce to be excessively foolish, trivial, twaddling, and ultra-sentimental."
1847 January – 1848 July, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 16, in Vanity Fair […], London: Bradbury and Evans […], published 1848, →OCLC1 more example
In fact, the influence of signage in a certain area may exist anywhere on a continuum from profoundly effective to utterly trivial or completely insignificant, irrespective of the intent motivating the signs.
2019, Li Huang, James Lambert, “Another Arrow for the Quiver: A New Methodology for Multilingual Researchers”, in Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, →DOI, page 11Synonyms: ignorable, negligible, trifling, frothy, Lilliputian
- Commonplace, ordinary.
As a scholar, meantime, he was trivial, and incapable of labour.
1842, Thomas De Quincey, “Cicero”, in Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine - Easy; requiring little skill or effort.
- Concerned with or involving trivia.
- biologyRelating to or designating the name of a species; specific as opposed to generic.
- mathematicsOf, relating to, or being the simplest possible case.
- algebraContaining only one element; having an underlying set which is a singleton.
- mathematicsSelf-evident.
- Pertaining to the trivium.
- human sciencesIndistinguishable in case of truth or falsity.
plural trivials · alternative obsolete triviall
- obsoleteAny of the three liberal arts forming the trivium.
St. Edmund was bred in this University in the Trivials and Quadrivials till he was Professor of Arts
1691, [Anthony Wood], Athenæ Oxonienses. An Exact History of All the Writers and Bishops who have had Their Education in the Most Ancient and Famous University of Oxford from the Fifteenth Year of King Henry the Seventh, Dom. 1500, to the End of the Year 1690. […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: […] Tho[mas] Bennet […]1 more example
Tryuyals, & quatryuyals, ſo ſore now they appayre That Parrot the Popagay, hath pytye to beholde How the reſt of good lernyng, is roufled vp & trold
c. 1521, John Skelton, Speke Parott
Synonyms & antonyms
adjectiveIgnorable; of little significance or value.
More synonyms by meaning
adjective(informal) small and of little importance
adjectiveof little substance or significance
adjectiveconcerned with trivialities
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Latintriviālis“appropriate to the street-corner, commonplace, vulgar”
- Englishtrivial
PIE word *tréyes * From Latin triviālis (“appropriate to the street-corner, commonplace, vulgar”), from trivium (“place where three roads meet”). Compare trivium, trivia. * From the distinction between trivium (“the lower division of the liberal arts; grammar, logic and rhetoric”) and quadrivium (“the higher division of the seven liberal arts in the Middle Ages, composed of geometry, astronomy, arithmetic, and music”).
More words from Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Arabic تافِه
- تافِه (tāfih)of little significance or value
Bulgarian незначи́телен, нищо́жен
- незначи́телен (neznačítelen)of little significance or value
- нищо́жен (ništóžen)of little significance or value
- обикнове́н (obiknovén)common, ordinary
- всекидне́вен (vsekidnéven)common, ordinary
Catalan trivial, trivial
- trivialof little significance or value
- trivialcommon, ordinary
- banalconcerned with or involving trivia
Chinese Mandarin 瑣碎 /琐碎, 瑣細 /琐细
- 瑣碎 /琐碎 (suǒsuì)of little significance or value
- 瑣細 /琐细 (suǒxì)of little significance or value
- 平凡 (píngfán)common, ordinary
- 普通 (pǔtōng)common, ordinary
- 平凡 (píngfán)(mathematics) of being the simplest possible case
Czech bezvýznamný, triviální
- bezvýznamnýof little significance or value
- triviálnícommon, ordinary
- druhový(biology) relating to, or designating a species
- triviální(mathematics) self-evident
Esperanto bagatela, banala
- bagatelaof little significance or value
- banalacommon, ordinary
- triviala(mathematics) of being the simplest possible case
Estonian tühine, argine
- tühineof little significance or value
- arginecommon, ordinary
- tavalinecommon, ordinary
Finnish mitätön, triviaali
- mitätönof little significance or value
- triviaaliof little significance or value
- tavallinencommon, ordinary
- yksinkertainencommon, ordinary
- tyhjänpäiväinenconcerned with or involving trivia
- turhanaikainenconcerned with or involving trivia
- triviaali(mathematics) self-evident
- triviaali(mathematics) of being the simplest possible case
French trivial, anodin
- trivialof little significance or value
- anodinof little significance or value
- banalcommon, ordinary
- trivial(mathematics) self-evident
- trivial(mathematics) of being the simplest possible case
German unbedeutend, bedeutungslos
- unbedeutendof little significance or value
- bedeutungslosof little significance or value
- belanglosof little significance or value
- geringfügigof little significance or value
- trivialcommon, ordinary
- trivial(mathematics) self-evident
- trivial(mathematics) of being the simplest possible case
Greek ασήμαντος, τιποτένιος
- ασήμαντος (asímantos)of little significance or value
- τιποτένιος (tipoténios)of little significance or value
- μηδαμινός (midaminós)of little significance or value
- κοινός (koinós)common, ordinary
- τετριμμένος (tetrimménos)(mathematics) self-evident
Hindi नगण्य, तुच्छ
- नगण्य (nagaṇya)of little significance or value
- तुच्छ (tucch)of little significance or value
- सामान्य (sāmānya)common, ordinary
- साधारण (sādhāraṇ)common, ordinary
Hungarian jelentéktelen, közönséges
- jelentéktelenof little significance or value
- közönségescommon, ordinary
- útszélicommon, ordinary
- nyilvánvaló(mathematics) self-evident
- magától értetődő(mathematics) self-evident
- triviális(mathematics) self-evident
Icelandic augljós
- augljós(mathematics) self-evident
Italian insignificante, trascurabile
- insignificanteof little significance or value
- trascurabileof little significance or value
- banalecommon, ordinary
- ordinariocommon, ordinary
- banale(mathematics) of being the simplest possible case
Japanese つまらない, 些細な
- つまらない (tsumaranai)of little significance or value
- 些細な (sasai na)of little significance or value
- 末梢的な (masshoteki na)of little significance or value
- 枝葉の (edaha no)of little significance or value
- ありふれた (arifureta)common, ordinary
- 蛇足の (dasoku no)concerned with or involving trivia
- 通称の (tsūshō no)(biology) relating to, or designating a species
- 自明な (jimei na)(mathematics) self-evident
Korean 사소하다
- 사소하다 (sasohada)of little significance or value
Latin levis, sublestus
- levisof little significance or value
- sublestusof little significance or value
Māori meroiti, kūrapa
- meroitiof little significance or value
- kūrapaof little significance or value
- tātakimōriof little significance or value
- paraureheof little significance or value
Norwegian triviell, triviell
- triviell(mathematics) self-evident
- triviell(mathematics) of being the simplest possible case
Polish trywialny, błahy
- trywialnyof little significance or value
- błahyof little significance or value
- bagatelnyof little significance or value
- trywialnycommon, ordinary
Portuguese trivial, trivial
- trivialof little significance or value
- trivialcommon, ordinary
- trivial(mathematics) self-evident
- trivial(mathematics) of being the simplest possible case
Romanian trivial
- trivialcommon, ordinary
Russian незначи́тельный, ме́лкий
- незначи́тельный (neznačítelʹnyj)of little significance or value
- ме́лкий (mélkij)of little significance or value
- ничто́жный (ničtóžnyj)of little significance or value
- тривиа́льный (triviálʹnyj)of little significance or value
- тривиа́льный (triviálʹnyj)common, ordinary
- бана́льный (banálʹnyj)common, ordinary
- обы́чный (obýčnyj)common, ordinary
- тривиа́льный (triviálʹnyj)(mathematics) self-evident
- тривиа́льный (triviálʹnyj)(mathematics) of being the simplest possible case
Scottish Gaelic suarach, cumanta
- suarachof little significance or value
- cumantacommon, ordinary
Spanish trivial, trivial
- trivialof little significance or value
- trivialcommon, ordinary
- trivial(mathematics) self-evident
- trivial(mathematics) of being the simplest possible case
Swedish trivial, enkel
- trivialof little significance or value
- enkelof little significance or value
- trivialcommon, ordinary
- ordinärcommon, ordinary
- vanligcommon, ordinary
- trivial(mathematics) self-evident
- uppenbar(mathematics) self-evident
Tamil உப்பு பெறாத
- உப்பு பெறாத (uppu peṟāta)of little significance or value
Turkish ıvır zıvır
- ıvır zıvırof little significance or value
Ukrainian незначни́й, мізе́рний
- незначни́й (neznačnýj)of little significance or value
- мізе́рний (mizérnyj)of little significance or value
- тривіа́льний (tryviálʹnyj)of little significance or value
- звича́йний (zvyčájnyj)common, ordinary
- тривіа́льний (tryviálʹnyj)common, ordinary
- неособли́вий (neosoblývyj)common, ordinary
- віктори́нний (viktorýnnyj)concerned with or involving trivia
- цікавинко́вий (cikavynkóvyj)concerned with or involving trivia
- очеви́дний (očevýdnyj)(mathematics) self-evident
- тривіа́льний (tryviálʹnyj)(mathematics) of being the simplest possible case
Urdu اَدْنیٰ
- اَدْنیٰ (adnā)of little significance or value
Rhymes & wordplay
Anagrams
Cite this entry
trivial. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/trivial
“trivial.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/trivial. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “trivial,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/trivial.
Source: trivial on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.