Lexic.us

Definition of Cavil

1. Verb. Raise trivial objections.

2. Noun. An evasion of the point of an argument by raising irrelevant distinctions or objections.

Definition of Cavil

1. v. i. To raise captious and frivolous objections; to find fault without good reason.

2. v. t. To cavil at.

3. n. A captious or frivolous objection.

Definition of Cavil

1. Verb. (intransitive) To criticise for petty or frivolous reasons. ¹

2. Noun. A petty or trivial objection or criticism ¹

¹ Source: wiktionary.com

Definition of Cavil

1. to carp [v -ILED, -ILING, -ILS or -ILLED, -ILLING, -ILS] - See also: carp

Lexicographical Neighbors of Cavil

caviar lesion caviar to the general caviare caviares caviarie caviaries caviarlike caviars cavicapture cavicorn

cavicorns cavie cavier caviers cavies cavil (current term) cavilation cavilations caviled caviler

cavilers caviling cavilingly cavilings cavillation cavillations cavilled caviller cavillers cavilling

Literary usage of Cavil

Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:

1. English Synonymes Explained in Alphabetical Order: With Copious by George Crabb (1881)
"To censure respects positive errors ; to carp and cavil have regard to what is trivial or imaginary : the former is cm- ployed for errors in persons ..."

2. British Synonymy: Or, An Attempt at Regulating the Choice of Words in by Hester Lynch Piozzi (1794)
"... TO PREVARICATE, TO cavil, TO EVADE GIVING ANSWERS, TO SHUFFLE. ... too mean even for fo mean a practice: to cavil is ..."

3. Colliery Working and Management: Comprising the Duties of a Colliery Manager by Harrison Francis Bulman, Richard Augustine Studdert Redmayne (1906)
"That the pits be cavilled for every half-year, and that every man have a cavil in for the pits either singly or in sets. 2. When found necessary to remove ..."

4. A Treatise on Masonry Construction by Ira Osborn Baker (1889)
""The cavil, Fig. 11, has one blunt and one pyramidal, or pointed, end, and weighs from ... H.-cavil. pick used in digging, and is used for rough dressing, ..."

5. The Church History of Britain, from the Birth of Jesus Christ Until the Year by Thomas Fuller (1837)
"The causeless cavil of the Papists thereat. But day shall sooner lack a night to attend it, ... Yea, their cavil recoils on themselves, and their own vulgar ..."

6. The Dictionary of National Biography by Sidney Lee (1908)
"In the next generation Buchanan, not unwilling to cavil at Boece, used his history as material for his own more elaborate work. ..."

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