Definitions Related words Phrases Mentions Lyrics History Colors (New!)

Literary notes about trivial (AI summary)

Writers employ the term “trivial” in diverse ways to signal the insignificance or superficiality of incidents and details, while sometimes using it to heighten contrasts between the mundane and the profound. In many works, “trivial” underscores an aspect of life that is dismissed as unimportant—a minor accident that inadvertently changes the narrative course ([1]) or a seemingly insignificant detail that reveals deeper truths about a character’s nature ([2], [3]). Conversely, it is also used to remark on the pettiness of human concerns, whether it is the triviality of everyday misunderstandings ([4]) or the ironic portrayal of a once vital passion reduced to a trivial pursuit in memory ([5]). In this way, the adjective serves both to diminish the weight of certain events and to spotlight the inherent contradiction between what appears unimportant and what may ultimately carry hidden significance ([6], [7], [8]).
  1. The effect was heightened by a trivial accident.
    — from The possessed : by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
  2. She attended to all the most trivial details in person, making them all subservient to her love.
    — from Juliette Drouet's Love-Letters to Victor Hugo by Juliette Drouet and Louis Guimbaud
  3. My lord, this argues conscience in your Grace; But the respects thereof are nice and trivial, All circumstances well considered.
    — from The Complete Works of William Shakespeare by William Shakespeare
  4. Do not allow a trivial misunderstanding to wither the blossoms of spring, which, once put forth and blighted, cannot be renewed.
    — from David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
  5. That trivial love, now that I am growing old, is the one solitary bright spot in my memories.
    — from Project Gutenberg Compilation of Short Stories by Chekhov by Anton Pavlovich Chekhov
  6. The matter is a perfectly trivial one”—he jerked his thumb in the direction of the old
    — from The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle
  7. In this respect it may seem a little trivial to speak of extremes meeting; but it is wonderfully apt.
    — from Thus Spake Zarathustra: A Book for All and None by Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche
  8. How trivial it all must be, what I am fretting about now!
    — from Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

More usage examples

Also see: Google, News, Images, Wikipedia, Reddit, BlueSky


Home   Reverse Dictionary / Thesaurus   Datamuse   Word games   Spruce   Feedback   Dark mode   Random word   Help


Color thesaurus

Use OneLook to find colors for words and words for colors

See an example

Literary notes

Use OneLook to learn how words are used by great writers

See an example

Word games

Try our innovative vocabulary games

Play Now

Read the latest OneLook newsletter issue: Threepeat Redux