Frivolous

How to spell frivolous

9 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce frivolous

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does frivolous mean?

1. adjectiveLacking serious purpose or value; silly and not worth taking seriously.

Frivolous in a sentence

• The manager dismissed the complaint as frivolous and refused to investigate.

• She regretted spending so much money on frivolous purchases.

Where does frivolous come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word comes from the Latin frivolus, which meant 'silly', 'trifling', or 'worthless', and originally described things that were brittle or easily crumbled, as though they might break into useless fragments. By extension the Romans applied it to matters of no real substance or importance. English adopted it in the fifteenth century, keeping the sense of something lacking serious purpose or value. The single 'l' followed by '-ous' is the spelling trap, since speakers often want to double the 'l' or to write '-olus' instead of '-olous'. The legal phrase 'frivolous lawsuit', meaning a claim with no genuine merit, preserves the original idea of something flimsy and without weight.

How the word is built

• frivol- (from Latin frivolus: trifling, worthless)
• -ous (adjective suffix: full of)