CAVIL
What does "CAVIL" mean?
To make petty, trivial objections; to quibble over unimportant details.
Meanings
- To raise trivial or frivolous objections; to find fault unnecessarily. Rather than engage the argument, he chose to cavil at her grammar. formal
- A petty or trivial objection. Setting aside one small cavil, the report was excellent. formal
Word origin
From Latin 'cavillari' ('to jeer, scoff, quibble'), from 'cavilla' ('a jeering, mockery'); entered English via Middle French 'caviller' in the 16th century.
Remember it
To CAVIL is to be a little e-VIL with words - sneaking petty complaints into every sentence.
A little poem
He weighed the comma, frowned upon the font,
and missed the burning house behind the prose-
a man who drowns while arguing the tide.
tercet
Wordplay
- He objected that 'cavil' has only one L. That, ironically, was the most cavilling thing he could have done.
What it teaches
Pick at small flaws long enough and you will miss the large truth standing in front of you.
Quick facts
What does CAVIL mean?
To make petty, trivial objections; to quibble over unimportant details.
Is CAVIL a valid word?
Yes — CAVIL is one of the answer words in Wordul, the daily word game.
How many letters is CAVIL?
CAVIL has 5 letters and 2 syllables.
Where does CAVIL come from?
From Latin 'cavillari' ('to jeer, scoff, quibble'), from 'cavilla' ('a jeering, mockery'); entered English via Middle French 'caviller' in the 16th century.
What can CAVIL teach us?
Pick at small flaws long enough and you will miss the large truth standing in front of you.
How players do
Be the first to solve it.