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Trifle vs Tenuous - What's the difference?

trifle | tenuous |

As a noun trifle

is an english dessert made from a mixture of thick custard, fruit, sponge cake, jelly and whipped cream.

As a verb trifle

is to deal with something as if it were of little importance or worth.

As an adjective tenuous is

thin in substance or consistency.

trifle

English

Noun

  • An English dessert made from a mixture of thick custard, fruit, sponge cake, jelly and whipped cream.
  • An insignificant amount.
  • * {{quote-book, year=1928, author=Lawrence R. Bourne
    • , title=Well Tackled! , chapter=17 citation , passage=Commander Birch was a trifle uneasy when he found there was more than a popple on the sea; it was, in fact, distinctly choppy. Strictly speaking, he ought to have been following up the picket–boat, but he was satisfied that the circumstances were sufficiently urgent for him to take risks.}}
  • Anything that is of little importance or worth.
  • * Shakespeare
    • Trifles light as air / Are to the jealous confirmation strong / As proofs of holy writ.
  • * Drayton
    • with such poor trifles playing
  • A particular kind of pewter.
  • (uncountable) Utensils made from this particular kind of pewter.

    • Synonyms

    See also: . * (insignificant amount) iota, jot, scrap, whit * (thing of little importance or worth) bagatelle, minor detail, whiffle

    Derived terms

    * a trifle

    See also

    * ("trifle" on Wikipedia)

    Verb

    (trifl)
  • To deal with something as if it were of little importance or worth.
  • To act, speak, or otherwise behave with jest.
  • To inconsequentially toy with something.
  • To squander or waste.

    • Anagrams

    * * ----

    tenuous

    English

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • Thin in substance or consistency.
    • The aether was thought to be of tenuous strands.
  • insubstantial
    • His argument was not convincing in the debate, considering how tenuous it was.
  • * July 18 2012 , Scott Tobias, AV Club The Dark Knight Rises [http://www.avclub.com/articles/the-dark-knight-rises-review-batman,82624/]
    • Picking up eight years after The Dark Knight left off, the film finds Gotham enjoying a tenuous peace based on Harvey Dent’s moral ideals rather than the ugly truth of his demise.