bagatelle · noun — A trifle; an insubstantial thing. It carries an Arena rating of 1857, earned across 13 head-to-head judged battles.
Definition from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, bagatelle ranks #351 of 17,165 for Most Satisfying to Say, #1,091 of 17,177 for Most Whimsical Words, #1,279 of 17,180 for Most Ingenious Words, #1,813 of 17,172 for Most Beautiful Words.
bagatelle is pronounced /ˌbæɡəˈtɛl/.
Why “bagatelle” is a great word
A thing of little value or consequence, or a short, light musical composition or a game played on a small table with cues and balls. Its lineage traces through French from the Italian bagattella, a diminutive of uncertain origin, perhaps from bagatta ('small possession'), and it has graced the language since 1633. Unlike a 'triviality,' which emphasizes dull insignificance, or a 'bibelot,' which denotes a specific physical trinket, a bagatelle is a minor affair often touched with a flicker of charm or play. It is the polished pebble kept in a pocket for idle fingers, the minute of whimsy penned for the piano between grander works, the soft click of ivory balls in a parlor on a quiet afternoon—a small, deliberate pleasure that gently disputes the tyranny of great matters.
❧ Essay by Lexicurio’s AI · definition, etymology & citations from published sources
Etymology
Borrowed from French bagatelle, from Italian bagattella.
noun
- A trifle; an insubstantial thing.e.g.“Sir C. Oh! dear madam, don't ask me, it's a very foolish song—a mere bagatelle.
Char. Oh! Sir Callaghan, I will admit of no excuse.” — 1782, Charles Macklin, Love a-la-Mode, page 21:
- A short piece of literature or of instrumental music, typically light or playful in character.e.g.“One afternoon in 1920. a young pianist sat down in a shuttered room in the capital of defeated Germany and played a Bagatelle by Beethoven.” — 2007, Norman Lebrecht, The Life And Death of Classical Music, page 7:
- A game similar to billiards played on an oblong table with pockets or arches at one end only.
- Any of several smaller wooden tabletop games developed from the original bagatelle in which the pockets are made of pins.
verb
- To meander or move around, in a manner similar to the ball in the game of bagatelle.e.g.“Admittedly Mané’s strike did rebound off a post as the ball bagatelled around the home area. It was characteristically cleared before Roberto Firmino could redirect the fall out beyond Henderson.” — 2019 September 28, Louise Taylor, “Henderson howler hands Liverpool narrow win at spirited Sheffield United”, in The Guardian:
- To bagatellize; to regard as a bagatelle.
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
Words closest in meaning
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