The deliberate act of delaying and playing instead of working.

synonyms: dalliance, dawdling.

Roget 842: wit, humor, wittiness; sense of humor; attic wit, attic salt; atticism^†; salt, esprit, point, fancy, whim, drollery, pleasantry.    farce, buffoonery, fooling, tomfoolery; shenanigan [U.S.], harlequinade etc. 599^†; broad farce, broad humor; fun, espieglerie [Fr.]; vis comica [Lat.].    jocularity; jocosity, jocoseness^†; facetiousness; waggery, waggishness; whimsicality; comicality etc. 853.    banter, badinage, retort, repartee, smartness, ready wit, quid-pro-quo; ridicule etc. 856.    jest, joke, jape, jibe; facetiae [Lat.], levity, quips and cranks; capital joke; canorae nugae [Lat.]; standing jest, standing joke, private joke, conceit, quip, quirk, crank, quiddity, concetto^†, plaisanterie [Fr.], brilliant idea; merry thought, bright thought, happy thought; sally; flash of wit, flash of merriment; scintillation; mot [Fr.], mot pour rire [Fr.]; witticism, smart saying, bon-mot, jeu d'esprit [Fr.], epigram; jest book; dry joke, quodlibet, cream of the jest.    word-play, jeu de mots [Fr.]; play of words, play upon words; pun, punning; double entente, double entendre [Fr.] etc. (ambiguity) 520; quibble, verbal quibble; conundrum etc. (riddle) 533; anagram, acrostic, double acrostic, trifling, idle conceit, turlupinade^†.    old joke, tired joke, flat joke, Joe Miller^†.    ... show more

Roget 460: neglect; carelessness etc. adj.; trifling etc. v.; negligence; omission, oversight, laches [Law], default; supineness etc. (inactivity) 683; inattention etc. 458; nonchalance etc. (insensibility) 823; imprudence, recklessness etc. 863; slovenliness etc. (disorder) 59, (dirt) 653; improvidence etc. 674; noncompletion etc. 730; inexactness etc. (error) 495.    paralipsis, paralepsis, paraleipsis (in rhetoric). trifler, waiter on Providence; Micawber.    ... show more

Roget 499: want of intelligence etc. 498, want of intellect etc. 450; shadowness^†, silliness, foolishness etc. adj.; imbecility, incapacity, vacancy of mind, poverty of intellect, weakness of intellect, clouded perception, poor head, apartments to let; stupidity, stolidity; hebetude^†, dull understanding, meanest capacity, shortsightedness; incompetence etc. (unskillfulness) 699.    one's weak side, not one's strong point; bias etc. 481; infatuation etc. (insanity) 503.    simplicity, puerility, babyhood; dotage, anility^†, second childishness, fatuity; idiocy, idiotism^†; driveling.    folly, frivolity, irrationality, trifling, ineptitude, nugacity^†, inconsistency, lip wisdom, conceit; sophistry etc. 477; giddiness etc. (inattention) 458; eccentricity etc. 503; extravagance etc. (absurdity) 497; rashness etc. 863.    act of folly etc. 699.    ... show more

Not worth considering:
— A trifling matter.

synonyms: negligible, paltry.

Roget 732: unsuccessful, successless^†; failing, tripping etc. v.; at fault; unfortunate etc. 735.    abortive, addle, stillborn; fruitless, bootless; ineffectual, ineffective, inconsequential, trifling, nugatory; inefficient etc. (impotent) 158; insufficient etc. 640; unavailing etc. (useless) 645; of no effect.    aground, grounded, swamped, stranded, cast away, wrecked, foundered, capsized, shipwrecked, nonsuited^†; foiled; defeated etc. 731; struck down, borne down, broken down; downtrodden; overborne, overwhelmed; all up with; ploughed, plowed, plucked.    lost, undone, ruined, broken; bankrupt etc. (not paying) 808; played out; done up, done for; dead beat, ruined root and branch, flambe^†, knocked on the head; destroyed etc. 162.    frustrated, crossed, unhinged, disconcerted dashed; thrown off one's balance, thrown on one's back, thrown on one's beam ends^†; unhorsed, in a sorry plight; hard hit.    stultified, befooled^†, dished, hoist on one's own petard; victimized, sacrificed.    wide of the mark etc. (error) 495; out of one's reckoning etc. (inexpectation) 508^†; left in the lurch; thrown away etc. (wasted) 638; unattained; uncompleted etc. 730.    ... show more

Roget 643: unimportant; of little account, of small account, of no account, of little importance, of no importance etc. 642; immaterial; unessential, nonessential; indifferent.    subordinate etc. (inferior) 34; mediocre etc. (average) 29; passable, fair, respectable, tolerable, commonplace; uneventful, mere, common; ordinary etc. (habitual) 613; inconsiderable, so-so, insignificant, inappreciable.    trifling, trivial; slight, slender, light, flimsy, frothy, idle; puerile etc. (foolish) 499; airy, shallow; weak etc. 160; powerless etc. 158; frivolous, petty, niggling; piddling, peddling; fribble^†, inane, ridiculous, farcical; finical, finikin^†; fiddle-faddle, fingle-fangle^†, namby-pamby, wishy-washy, milk and water.    poor, paltry, pitiful; contemptible etc. (contempt) 930; sorry, mean, meager, shabby, miserable, wretched, vile, scrubby, scrannel^†, weedy, niggardly, scurvy, putid^†, beggarly, worthless, twopennyhalfpenny, cheap, trashy, catchpenny, gimcrack, trumpery; one-horse [U.S.].    not worth the pains, not worth while, not worth mentioning, not worth speaking of, not worth a thought, not worth a curse, not worth a straw etc. n.; beneath notice, unworthy of notice, beneath regard, unworthy of regard, beneath consideration, unworthy of consideration; de lana caprina [It]; vain etc. (useless) 645.    ... show more