different between trivial vs superficial

English

Alternative forms

• triviall (obsolete)

Etymology

• From Latin trivi?lis (“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”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?t??.vi.?l/

Adjective

trivial (comparative more trivial, superlative most trivial)

1. Ignorable; of little significance or value.
   • 1848, Thackeray, William Makepeace, Vanity Fair, Bantam Classics (1997), 16:

     "All which details, I have no doubt, Jones, who reads this book at his Club, will pronounce to be excessively foolish, trivial, twaddling, and ultra-sentimental."
2. Commonplace, ordinary.
   • 1842, Thomas De Quincey, Cicero (published in Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine)

     As a scholar, meantime, he was trivial, and incapable of labour.

3. Concerned with or involving trivia.
4. (taxonomy) Relating to or designating the name of a species; specific as opposed to generic.
5. (mathematics) Of, relating to, or being the simplest possible case.
6. (mathematics) Self-evident.
7. Pertaining to the trivium.
8. (philosophy) Indistinguishable in case of truth or falsity.

Synonyms

• (of little significance): ignorable, negligible, trifling

Antonyms

• nontrivial
• important
• significant
• radical
• fundamental

Derived terms

• trivia

Translations

Noun

trivial (plural trivials)

1. (obsolete) Any of the three liberal arts forming the trivium.
   • c. 1521, John Skelton, “Speke Parott”:

     Tryuyals, & quatryuyals, ?o ?ore now they appayre
     That Parrot the Popagay, hath pytye to beholde
     How the re?t of good lernyng, is roufled vp & trold

References

trivial in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.

Anagrams

• vitrail

Catalan

Pronunciation

• (Balearic, Valencian) IPA^(key): /t?i.vi?al/
• (Central) IPA^(key): /t?i.bi?al/

Adjective

trivial (masculine and feminine plural trivials)

1. trivial

Further reading

• “trivial” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /t?i.vjal/
• Homophones: triviale, triviales

Adjective

trivial (feminine singular triviale, masculine plural triviaux, feminine plural triviales)

1. trivial (common, easy, obvious)
2. ordinary, mundane
3. colloquial (language)

Derived terms

• nom trivial

Further reading

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

Anagrams

• livrait, vitrail

Galician

Adjective

trivial m or f (plural triviais)

1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.

Derived terms

• trivialidade
• trivialmente

German

Etymology

Borrowed from French trivial, from Latin trivi?lis (“common”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /t?ivi?a?l/
• Rhymes: -a?l

Adjective

trivial (comparative trivialer, superlative am trivialsten)

1. trivial (common, easy, obvious)

Declension

Related terms

• trivialisieren
• Trivialität

Further reading

• “trivial” in Duden online

Piedmontese

Adjective

trivial

1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.

Portuguese

Pronunciation

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /t?ivi?aw/
• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /t?i?vja?/

Adjective

trivial m or f (plural triviais, comparable)

1. trivial

Derived terms

• trivialidade
• trivializar
• trivialmente

Further reading

• “trivial” in Dicionário Aberto based on Novo Diccionário da Língua Portuguesa de Cândido de Figueiredo, 1913

Romanian

Etymology

From French trivial.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tri.vi?al/

Adjective

trivial m or n (feminine singular trivial?, masculine plural triviali, feminine and neuter plural triviale)

1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.

Declension

Derived terms

• trivialitate
• trivializa

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /t?i?bjal/, [t??i???jal]
• Hyphenation: tri?vial

Adjective

trivial (plural triviales)

1. trivial

Derived terms

• trivialidad
• trivializar
• trivialmente

Further reading

• “trivial” in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014.

English

Etymology

From Latin superfici?lis.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /?sup??f???l/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?s(j)u?p??f???l/
• Rhymes: -???l
• Hyphenation: su?per?fi?cial

Adjective

superficial (comparative more superficial, superlative most superficial)

1. Of or pertaining to the surface.
2. Being near the surface.
3. Shallow, lacking substance.
4. At face value.
5. (rare) Two-dimensional; drawn on a flat surface.

Synonyms

• (of or pertaining to the surface): surficial

Antonyms

• in-depth
• thorough
• (lacking substance): substantive

Derived terms

• superficially
• superficiality

Translations

Noun

superficial (plural superficials)

1. (chiefly in plural) A surface detail.

   He always concentrates on the superficials and fails to see the real issue.

Related terms

• superfice (archaic)

Catalan

Etymology

From Latin superfici?lis.

Pronunciation

• (Balearic) IPA^(key): /su.p??.fi.si?al/
• (Central) IPA^(key): /su.p?r.fi.si?al/
• (Valencian) IPA^(key): /su.pe?.fi.si?al/

Adjective

superficial (masculine and feminine plural superficials)

1. superficial

Derived terms

• superficialitat
• superficialment

Related terms

• superfície

Further reading

• “superficial” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “superficial” in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana.
• “superficial” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “superficial” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

Galician

Etymology

From Latin superfici?lis.

Pronunciation

Adjective

superficial m or f (plural superficiais)

1. superficial
2. surficial; of the surface

Derived terms

• superficialidade
• superficialmente

Related terms

• superficie

Further reading

• “superficial” in Dicionario da Real Academia Galega, Royal Galician Academy.

Interlingua

Adjective

superficial (not comparable)

1. superficial (pertaining to the surface)

Related terms

• superficie

Portuguese

Etymology

From Latin superfici?lis.

Pronunciation

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /?su.pe?.fi.si.?aw/

Adjective

superficial m or f (plural superficiais, comparable)

1. Shallow, lacking substance.

Derived terms

• superficialidade
• superficialismo
• superficialmente

Related terms

• superfície

Further reading

• “superficial” in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa.

Romanian

Etymology

From French superficiel

Adjective

superficial m or n (feminine singular superficial?, masculine plural superficiali, feminine and neuter plural superficiale)

1. shallow (about people)

Declension

Related terms

• superficialitate

Spanish

Etymology

From Latin superfici?lis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Spain) /supe?fi??jal/, [su.pe?.fi??jal]
• IPA^(key): (Latin America) /supe?fi?sjal/, [su.pe?.fi?sjal]

Adjective

superficial (plural superficiales)

1. superficial
2. shallow, lacking substance

Derived terms

Related terms

• superficie

Further reading

• “superficial” in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014.