different between futile vs trifling

English

Etymology

From Middle French futile, from Latin f?tilis.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?fju?.ta?l/
• (US) IPA^(key): /?fju.ta?.?l/, /?fju.t?l/
• Rhymes: -u?t?l (US)

Adjective

futile (comparative more futile, superlative most futile)

1. Incapable of producing results; doomed not to be successful; not worth attempting.

Synonyms

• useless, see also Thesaurus:futile

Antonyms

• effectual
• effective
• fruitful

Related terms

• futility
• futilitarian

Translations

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin f?tilis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fy.til/
• Rhymes: -il

Adjective

futile (plural futiles)

1. futile

Related terms

• futilité

Further reading

• “futile” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Italian

Etymology

From Latin f?tilis (“futile, worthless”, literally “that easily pours out”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?fu.ti.le/
• Rhymes: -utile
• Hyphenation: fù?ti?le

Adjective

futile (plural futili)

1. futile, frivolous, worthless

Derived terms

• futilmente

Related terms

• futilità

Anagrams

• fluite

References

• futile in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana

Latin

Etymology 1

Alternative forms

• futtile

Adverb

f?tile (not comparable)

1. in vain

Synonyms

• frustr?
• in cassum

Etymology 2

Adjective

f?tile

1. nominative neuter singular of f?tilis
2. accusative neuter singular of f?tilis
3. vocative neuter singular of f?tilis

References

• futile in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• futile in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• futile in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré Latin-Français, Hachette

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?t?a?fli?/

Adjective

trifling (comparative more trifling, superlative most trifling)

1. Trivial, or of little importance.
   • 2005, Plato, Sophist. Translation by Lesley Brown. 234a.

     […] it doesn't take him long to make any of them, and he sells them for some trifling sum of money.

2. Idle or frivolous.
3. (African-American Vernacular) Of suspicious character, typically secretive or deceitful; shady.
   • 2001, Glenda Howard, Cita's World

     My hand was aching to slap that silly heifer. I told her to take her trifling ass down to Burger King and get herself a job flipping burgers […]

Synonyms

• trivial
• inconsequential
• petty
• See also Thesaurus:insignificant

Related terms

• trifle

Translations

Noun

trifling (plural triflings)

1. The act of one who trifles; frivolous behaviour.
   • 1845, George Croly, Samuel Warren, Marston, or the Memoirs of a Statesman

     He writes on the principle, of course, that in one's dotage we are privileged to return to the triflings of our infancy, and that Downing Street cannot be better employed in these days than as a chapel of ease to Eton.

Translations

Verb

trifling

1. present participle of trifle

Anagrams

• filtring, flirting