trivial
/ˈtɹɪv.i.əl/ adjective, noun
Forms trivials triviall
- adjective Ignorable; of little significance or value.
- adjective Commonplace, ordinary.
- adjective Easy; requiring little skill or effort.
- adjective Concerned with or involving trivia.
- adjective (taxonomy) Relating to or designating the name of a species; specific as opposed to generic.
- adjective (mathematics) Of, relating to, or being the simplest possible case.
- adjective (algebra, of an algebraic structure or ideal thereof) Containing only one element; having an underlying set which is a singleton.
- adjective (mathematics) Self-evident.
- noun (obsolete) Any of the three liberal arts forming the trivium.
Synonyms
ignorable negligible trifling frothy Lilliputian fiddling footling little niggling piddling piffling petty picayune superficial
Antonyms
Etymology
* 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”).
Webster’s 1913
- adjective Found anywhere; common. [Obs.]
- adjective Ordinary; commonplace; trifling; vulgar.
- noun One of the three liberal arts forming the trivium. [Obs.]
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.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “trivial”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details