PIFFLE Synonyms: 166 Similar and Opposite Words

piffle 1 of 2

noun

as in nonsense

language, behavior, or ideas that are absurd and contrary to good sense the belief that soda is made out of acid is just piffle

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piffle

2 of 2

verb

as in to muddle

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of piffle

Noun

That may not sound like a virtue, but in a world where horror comes either overloaded with metaphor or reduced to bloody piffle, Cregger valiantly navigates an unnerving middle way. —

Bilge Ebiri, Vulture, 8 Aug. 2025 The irony of the lightweight piffle being resurrected 26 years later isn’t lost on the group. —

Melissa Ruggieri, USA TODAY, 21 July 2023 The whole story now seems like so much piffle, except for the sons who lost their mother and a princess who lost her life. —

John Anderson, WSJ, 7 Oct. 2021 People who are too cowardly to put their names behind their allegations are hiding in the shadows, using the anonymity of dark money laws to try to raise doubts in the minds of voters by spreading inflammatory charges that amount to piffle. —

cleveland, 12 Sep. 2021 It’s a not-quite-living imitation of a movie, a self-parody that lacks even a touch of humor—because, at the slightest sting of wit, its entire membrane of fakery would burst and leave hardly a piffle of vapor behind. —

Richard Brody, The New Yorker, 18 Mar. 2021 To note that Gloria!, the directing debut of Italian actor-singer-songwriter Margherita Vicario, is vapid, pseudo-feminist, sentimental piffle would be entirely accurate. —

Leslie Felperin, The Hollywood Reporter, 3 Sep. 2019

Verb

And what The New Yorker saw happening most of all was Charlie Chaplin, who figures prominently in the magazine’s first year, in contexts ranging from pithy to piffling. —

Richard Brody, New Yorker, 25 Aug. 2025 The Ritz, a smart London hotel where Margaret Thatcher spent her last days, is in fine fettle, turning a neat annual profit and valued in the region of £800m—not bad for a property bought for a piffling £75m in 1995. —

The Economist, 31 Oct. 2019

Recent Examples of Synonyms for piffle

Noun

That’s the prayerful explanation for the nonsense that spouted this week from the leaders of a football conference that hopes to grow up and be the Big Ten someday.

— Joe Rexrode, New York Times, 29 May 2026
Let’s see if the Pomona Unified School District, which pays thousands of dollars to support its schools’ athletic program, is going to act and stop this nonsense.

— Eric Sondheimer, Los Angeles Times, 29 May 2026