trivial Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. adjective satellite (informal) small and of little importance
    little; petty; footling; piffling; niggling; piddling; fiddling; picayune; lilliputian.
    • a fiddling sum of money
    • a footling gesture
    • our worries are lilliputian compared with those of countries that are at war
    • a little (or small) matter
    • a dispute over niggling details
    • limited to petty enterprises
    • piffling efforts
    • giving a police officer a free meal may be against the law, but it seems to be a picayune infraction
  2. adjective satellite of little substance or significance
    superficial.
    • a few superficial editorial changes
    • only trivial objections
  3. adjective satellite concerned with trivialities
    • a trivial young woman
    • a trivial mind

WordNet

Triv"i*al adjective
Etymology
L. trivialis, properly, that is in, or belongs to, the crossroads or public streets; hence, that may be found everywhere, common, fr. trivium a place where three roads meet, a crossroad, the public street; tri- (see Tri-) + via a way: cf. F. trivial. See Voyage.
Definitions
  1. Found anywhere; common. Obs.
  2. Ordinary; commonplace; trifling; vulgar.
    As a scholar, meantime, he was trivial, and incapable of labor. De Quincey.
  3. Of little worth or importance; inconsiderable; trifling; petty; paltry; as, a trivial subject or affair.
    The trivial round, the common task. Keble.
  4. Of or pertaining to the trivium. (b) (Chem.) The common name, not describing the structure and from which the structure cannot be deduced; -- contrasted with systematic name.
Triv"i*al noun
Definitions
  1. One of the three liberal arts forming the trivium. Obs. Skelton. Wood.

Webster 1913