How to Use trifle in a Sentence

trifle

1 of 2 noun
  • Place half of the Twinkie pieces in a 6-quart glass bowl or trifle dish.
    Amy Parlapiano, SI.com, 19 Oct. 2017
  • Make trifle custard: slice the pound cake and roast the pears.
    Christopher Michel, Country Living, 21 Sep. 2022
  • Place half of the sponge cake in the bottom of a trifle dish or 2-quart glass bowl.
    Taylor Murray, Country Living, 30 Oct. 2019
  • Place half of them in a 2-quart glass bowl or trifle dish.
    Cheryl Slocum, Country Living, 4 Nov. 2010
  • This trifle was not made of cream; it was made of a thick white sauce.
    Dan Snierson, EW.com, 22 Nov. 2022
  • Why: Rachel's attempt to make a trifle steals the show.
    House Beautiful, 7 Sep. 2023
  • If that seems a trifle overcooked, the strength of the fury shows the value of the Iran deal for Europeans.
    The Economist, 17 May 2018
  • Assemble the trifle: Scoop 1 cup of cream and set aside.
    Heather Finn, Good Housekeeping, 12 Dec. 2018
  • Well, maybe if Rachel baked her custard, jam and meat trifle dessert again.
    Julie Hinds, Detroit Free Press, 1 Jan. 2021
  • The dark cloud over the Mets is a trifle by comparison.
    BostonGlobe.com, 25 Sep. 2021
  • The dessert, a Champagne and Granny Smith apple trifle, was not to be trifled with.
    John Von Sothen, Bon Appetit, 19 Jan. 2017
  • On the other hand, fingers crossed Rachel’s meaty trifle is left out of the lineup!
    Hannah Chubb, PEOPLE.com, 12 Sep. 2019
  • The hang-wringing at the time felt a trifle overstated.
    Brian Lowry, CNN, 18 Dec. 2017
  • Note: The pudding can also be used as the base for a cream pie, icebox cake or trifle.
    Maya Wilson, Anchorage Daily News, 26 Apr. 2018
  • Make sure the trifle sits for at least four hours before serving.
    Heather Finn, Good Housekeeping, 12 Dec. 2018
  • All that goodness adds up to freshness and flavor that will take your trifles over the top.
    By sunset, Sunset Magazine, 18 May 2023
  • Spread it on a shortcake, dip cookies in it, or layer it in a trifle.
    Hollyanna McCollom, Better Homes & Gardens, 7 Feb. 2023
  • France’s top female league sold five-year rights to Canal+, a pay-TV firm, for €6m—a trifle but six times more than two years ago.
    The Economist, 12 July 2019
  • For the briefest of moments, Harlan Crow looks a trifle sheepish.
    Christopher Helman, Forbes, 19 Apr. 2023
  • Arrange half the cake slices in bottom of trifle bowl; drizzle with 1⁄2 the liqueur mixture.
    Woman's Day, 1 Feb. 2012
  • Measure height of 4- to 5-quart straight-sided trifle bowl.
    Good Housekeeping, 2 Nov. 2011
  • Winter in Wyoming is hardly a trifle and can be as unpredictable as the wind.
    Bruce Dorminey, Forbes, 29 Dec. 2021
  • Brunch includes a yogurt trifle with house granola and fresh berries as a starter.
    Susan Selasky, Detroit Free Press, 6 May 2020
  • Remember when Rachel ruined the British trifle by putting beef in it?
    Abby Gardner, Glamour, 2 Nov. 2019
  • This is mostly an odd trifle that, frankly, both of Streep and Soderbergh are better than.
    Tim Grierson, Vulture, 7 July 2021
  • Magic in the Moonlight is a minor trifle, even for late-career Allen — but this just isn’t a great fit.
    Tim Grierson, Vulture, 3 June 2021
  • Sliced in half, these would be a great GF substitute in icebox cakes, trifles, or tiramisu.
    Alex Beggs, Bon Appétit, 28 July 2023
  • Special to this year will be a classic beef Wellington as well as fish and chips, and an English trifle for dessert.
    Jeremy Repanich, Robb Report, 10 Mar. 2023
  • The film takes place almost exclusively in the same suite of rooms, like a stage farce, and the brief run time makes this a pleasant if inconsequential trifle.
    Danny Horn, EW.com, 4 Jan. 2024
  • Break out your prettiest trifle dish No holiday spread is complete without at least one dessert on the table, and in the South, that dish is likely a trifle.
    Cameron Beall, Southern Living, 25 Oct. 2023
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trifle

2 of 2 verb
  • But these are trifling compared to the headaches caused by street protests.
    Max De Haldevang, Quartz, 1 Apr. 2020
  • The pair enjoy spreading the word about the cook who fed the wranglers and wasn’t one to be trifled with.
    Vincent T. Davis, ExpressNews.com, 15 Feb. 2020
  • Jacksonville Jaguars: 11–5* The Jaguars defense is not to be trifled with.
    Jonathan Jones, SI.com, 7 June 2018
  • The dessert, a Champagne and Granny Smith apple trifle, was not to be trifled with.
    John Von Sothen, Bon Appetit, 19 Jan. 2017
  • The dessert, a Champagne and Granny Smith apple trifle, was not to be trifled with.
    John Von Sothen, Bon Appetit, 19 Jan. 2017
  • The 49ers trifled with them during the regular season, and in San Diego.
    sandiegouniontribune.com, 16 Jan. 2018
  • To be sure, that’s a petty, trifling point of view, but the sports world peddles in that stuff at every level.
    Joseph Goodman | Jgoodman@al.com, al, 25 Sep. 2019
  • Economists say this is no time to trifle with your money.
    Harper's BAZAAR, 19 May 2008
  • Samsung made only trifling changes compared to the cameras on the Galaxy S10.
    Dieter Bohn, The Verge, 7 Aug. 2019
  • But those who organized and attended last weekend’s March For Our Lives are not to be trifled with.
    Teresa M. Pelham, courant.com, 31 Mar. 2018
  • This new economy is trifling, but Darlene is clever enough to figure out how to take advantage of it.
    Tyler Coates, Esquire, 18 Sep. 2017
  • Each of your unsuspecting knees and hips will be carrying around three pounds more than they're used to, and although that might not sound like a lot, these parts of your body are not to be trifled with.
    Jay Willis, GQ, 1 Oct. 2017
  • At the time, Summitt, whose flinty-eyed visage on the magazine’s cover left no doubt that the founder of the Lady Vols’ Tennessee basketball empire was no one to trifle with, was in her prime.
    Erik Spanberg, The Christian Science Monitor, 12 Mar. 2018
  • Nevertheless, the cold is nothing to trifle with, forecasters warned.
    CBS News, 3 Jan. 2018
  • The guild has insisted that the solidarity and resolve its members have shown in the agency fight sends a signal to the studios, too, that writers are newly energized and not to be trifled with.
    Jonathan Handel, The Hollywood Reporter, 8 Nov. 2019
  • Of course, for the heavily black work force in and around Detroit that can’t retreat to a vacation home, such an inconvenience is trifling by comparison.
    Jonathan Martin, New York Times, 18 Apr. 2020
  • Luckily, on Wednesday Queen Elizabeth readily gave her consent in the form of a no-nonsense and not-to-be-trifled-with official letter.
    Kathryn Lindsay, refinery29.com, 15 Mar. 2018
  • But over the last week, such worries have come to feel almost trifling, as Mississippi’s state prisons have exploded with gang warfare, riots, disorder and killing.
    Richard Fausset, BostonGlobe.com, 9 Jan. 2020
  • The total market for e-cigarettes remains trifling in comparison with sales of the normal sort, at about $200m a year, according to Euromonitor.
    The Economist, 1 Aug. 2019
  • But California’s relatively trifling ceiling can add up quickly for firms with thousands of users.
    The Economist, 18 Dec. 2019
  • During Capanis’ 2017 trial, prosecutors introduced evidence that Capanis was a leader in the Norteño gang, and had killed Grijalva to show that members of the gang weren’t to be trifled with.
    Nate Gartrell, The Mercury News, 12 Sep. 2019
  • A concerted foray by the likes of Alibaba and Tencent into brick-and-mortar could make the current retail disruptions caused by ecommerce look trifling by comparison.
    Fortune, 16 June 2017
  • There is nothing to substantiate the idea that Philip Johnson ever considered the curtain, as one critic grandiloquently put it, part of his Gesamtkunstwerk, never to be trifled with, in perpetuity.
    Kevin Conley, Town & Country, 25 Feb. 2014
  • The losers in this exchange were subsequently ignored, told that temporary wage assistance or retraining programs would paper over these trifling problems.
    David Dayen, The New Republic, 12 July 2018
  • But given the attention his company has been getting from the government, the strict confidentiality employees willingly stick to, and the small early demos depicted, Amaya is clearly not to be trifled with.
    Nathan Mattise, Ars Technica, 6 Mar. 2020
  • Both fascinate and disturb, unwelcome reminders of our transient and sometimes trifling status on an unpredictable planet, shudders of mortality.
    Patrick J. McDonnell, latimes.com, 8 Sep. 2017
  • But these are trifling compared to the headaches caused by street protests.
    Max De Haldevang, Quartz, 1 Apr. 2020
  • The pair enjoy spreading the word about the cook who fed the wranglers and wasn’t one to be trifled with.
    Vincent T. Davis, ExpressNews.com, 15 Feb. 2020
  • Jacksonville Jaguars: 11–5* The Jaguars defense is not to be trifled with.
    Jonathan Jones, SI.com, 7 June 2018
  • The dessert, a Champagne and Granny Smith apple trifle, was not to be trifled with.
    John Von Sothen, Bon Appetit, 19 Jan. 2017

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'trifle.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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