Literary notes about TRIFLE (AI summary)
In literary works, “trifle” functions as a versatile term that conveys a sense of insignificance, a minor amount, or a slight exaggeration depending on context. Authors use it to describe something minimal—whether referring to a hardly substantial sum, an insignificant detail, or a barely perceptible change in emotion or appearance—as in characters noting a “trifle thinner” appearance [1] or a “mere trifle” cost [2, 3]. At other times, it serves to temper intensity or mark a subtle shift in behavior, as when a character acts “a trifle warily” [4] or the language is “a trifle raw” [5]. Such varied applications enrich the narrative by drawing attention to nuances that might otherwise seem trivial, yet ultimately contribute to the overall mood and character development [6, 7].
- She has changed perceptibly—she is a trifle thinner for one thing; the light in her eyes is not so bright; she looks easily a year older.
— from This Side of Paradise by F. Scott Fitzgerald - Its weight will be but a trifle—it is nothing—mere nothing.
— from The Works of Edgar Allan Poe, The Raven Edition by Edgar Allan Poe - And it only costs a trifle; two millions or two and a half will do it.
— from The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today by Mark Twain and Charles Dudley Warner - Yet, as I began to thread the grove that lies before it, I was not so thoughtless but that I slacked my pace and went a trifle warily.
— from Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson - *" The language is a trifle raw, as it usually is when Gentiles are under discussion.
— from The International Jew : The World's Foremost Problem by Anonymous - The Count was a young magnate, the heir of a great house, handsome and attractive, and already a trifle in love!
— from Pan Tadeusz; or, The last foray in Lithuania by Adam Mickiewicz - Even this,’ showing me the basket-trifle, full of keys, still hanging at her side, ‘seems to jingle a kind of old tune!’
— from David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
