WORD OF THE DAY
A bagatelle is a trifle or a trinket — a little thing without too much importance or value. You might wake on Christmas morning to find your stocking full of bagatelles.
Use the noun bagatelle when you're talking about something that's purely decorative, like a bauble or knickknack, or that's very easily done. For example, you might say, "Oh watching your cat was such a bagatelle — I really didn't have to do a thing!" The word is French, meaning "knick-knack, bauble, or trinket," from the diminutive form of the Latin baca, or "berry."
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Vocabulary lists containing bagatelle
In this satirical French novella, a wide-eyed optimist gradually becomes disillusioned. Learn these words from the Modern Library translation.
Born mute, Louis the swan learns to read, write, and play the trumpet in the hopes of communicating with another swan named Serena.
Martin, a former sailor from a working-class background, educates himself and tries to become a successful writer after falling in love with a wealthy university student.
When his mother accepts a job as a housekeeper, young Charles Kingshaw must endure the cruelty of her employer's son.
This novel imagines an America in which the United States lost World War II.
