Word of the Day

: May 5, 2019

trivial

adjective TRIV-ee-ul

What It Means

1 a : of little worth or importance

b : relating to or being the mathematically simplest case; specifically : characterized by having all variables equal to zero

2 : commonplace, ordinary

3 : of, relating to, or constituting a species and especially a biological species

trivial in Context

"A paper published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology examined how pettiness—being intentionally attentive to trivial details—affects relationships and the way people perceive one another." — Jamie Ducharme, Time, 6 Aug. 2018

"From the very first episode, when they tried to score Lil Wayne tickets, Abbi and Ilana were each other's biggest fans…. With them, no topic was ever taboo or too trivial, and being friends meant there were zero boundaries." — Patrick Ryan, USA Today, 28 Mar. 2019

Did You Know?

Trivial comes from a Latin word meaning "crossroads"—that is, where three roads come together. Since a crossroads is a very public place where all kinds of people might show up, trivialis came to mean "commonplace" or "vulgar." Today, the English word has changed slightly in meaning and instead usually describes something barely worth mentioning. Extending that meaning to the related noun might sound unnecessarily harsh for a word we associate with pub quizzes, but the original notion behind trivia was that whatever qualified wasn't something you should worry about not knowing. Before it became the name of a board game, trivial pursuit referred to something in which one takes an interest but that is ultimately inconsequential.