Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The state or character of being trifling.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun The quality of being trifling.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

trifling +‎ -ness

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Examples

  • But omitting the triflingness of the dream, we are searching after the chorographical concern: and if there be any truth in the words of R. Judah, that there was a city Orbo by name near Beth-shean, we find the situation of the brook Cherith, -- or, at least, where he thought it ran.

    From the Talmud and Hebraica 1602-1675 1979

  • But the _Sdrucciola_ he hath not: where English hath all three, as _Due_, _True_, _Father_, _Rather_, _Motion_, _Potion_ with much more which might be said, but that I find already, the triflingness of this discourse is much too much enlarged.

    English literary criticism Various

  • Where the English hath all three, as due: true, father: rather, motion: potion; with much more which might be said, but that already I find the triflingness of this discourse is much too much enlarged.

    The Defense of Poesy 1909

  • He was, with his usual triflingness, not killed at the first fire, although he appears to be dead.

    "George Washington's" Last Duel 1891 Thomas Nelson Page 1887

  • Where there exists reverential love, there the name of the beloved will not be desecrated by triflingness and frivolous sport.

    Christian Ethics. Volume II.���Pure Ethics. 1819-1870 1873

  • I scarcely know what to say: on the one hand, there is a triflingness, a shewman's or relique-hawker's gossip that stands in offensive contrast with the momentous nature of the subject, and the dignity of the ministerial office; as if a preacher having chosen the

    The Literary Remains of Samuel Taylor Coleridge Henry Nelson Coleridge 1820

  • I have not existed to past seventy-three without having discovered the futility and triflingness of my own talents: and, at the same time, it would be impertinent to pretend to think that there is no merit in the execution of a tragedy, on which I have been so much flattered; though I am sincere in condemning the egregious absurdity of selecting a subject so improper for the stage, and even offensive to private readers.

    The Letters of Horace Walpole, Earl of Orford — Volume 4 Horace Walpole 1757

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