cavil
/ˈkæv.əl/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: 2.04 in modern English
10
Scrabble Score
5
Letters
2
Syllables
5
Unique Chars
Meaning
Example Sentences
- "'Tis love you cavil at: I am not Love."
- "The provision, then, which we have here made is no other than Human Nature. Nor do I fear that my sensible reader, though most luxurious in his taste, will start, cavil, or be offended, because I have named but one article."
- "Stranleigh found no difficulty in getting a cavalcade together at Bleacher’s station, an amazingly long distance west of New York. A man finds little trouble in obtaining what he wants, if he never cavils at the price asked, and is willing to pay in advance."
- "I wish you wouldn't cavil, Hilda."
- "At the Centenary Banquet of the G.W.R. [Great Western Railway] in 1935, the then Prince of Wales (afterwards King Edward VIII) honoured that railway with the title "The Royal Road," at which few will cavil in view of the long record of Royal Specials."
- "But their first supporting quotation, which is from The Selfish Gene, includes selfish genes that do have phenotypic effects. Far it be from me, however, to cavil at the honour of being quoted in the Oxford English Dictionary!"
Etymology
From Old French caviller (“mock, jest, rail”), from Latin cavillor (“jeer, mock, satirise, reason captiously”), from cavilla (“jeering, raillery, scoffing”); cognate with Italian cavillare, Portuguese cavillar, and Spanish cavilar; nominal usage developed within English from the original verbal usage.
Origin
- Source language: Old French
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈkæv.əl/
- British English: /ˈkæv.əl/