Definition
Trivial means hardly worth mentioning — small, ordinary, of no real weight. The word has a charming root: the Latin trivium, the 'place where three roads meet', a public crossroads where commonplace, everyday talk happened. So trivial things are crossroads chatter, the opposite of the deep or the decisive. A trivial error is easily fixed; a trivial sum is barely missed. It marks what is the reverse of profound, and never paramount.
Examples
- The two designs differ only in trivial details.
- He waved the objection aside as trivial and moved on.
- What seems a trivial change to one user can be a serious problem for another.
Collocations
a trivial matter·far from trivial·trivial details·dismiss as trivial
Synonyms
minor·insignificant·negligible·petty·inconsequential
Antonyms
Word family
triviality (noun)·trivially (adverb)·trivialize (verb)
In TOEFL & IELTS
Useful for precise concession in IELTS Writing — 'these drawbacks are far from trivial' concedes weight, while 'a trivial difference' dismisses it. TOEFL vocabulary items pair it with 'insignificant' or 'minor'. The verb 'trivialize' (to make something serious seem unimportant) is a strong derivative for critical writing. Keep it opposite to 'profound' and 'significant'.