What's the difference between military and piffle?

Military


Definition:

  • (a.) Of or pertaining to soldiers, to arms, or to war; belonging to, engaged in, or appropriate to, the affairs of war; as, a military parade; military discipline; military bravery; military conduct; military renown.
  • (a.) Performed or made by soldiers; as, a military election; a military expedition.
  • (n.) The whole body of soldiers; soldiery; militia; troops; the army.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) In a debate in the House of Commons, I will ask Britain, the US and other allies to convert generalised offers of help into more practical support with greater air cover, military surveillance and helicopter back-up, to hunt down the terrorists who abducted the girls.
  • (2) A full-scale war is unlikely but there is clear concern in Seoul about the more realistic threat of a small-scale attack on the South Korean military or a group of islands near the countries' disputed maritime border in the Yellow Sea.
  • (3) A Swedish news agency said it had received an email warning before the blasts in which a threat was made against Sweden's population, linked to the country's military presence in Afghanistan and the five-year-old case of caricatures of the prophet Muhammad by Swedish artist Lars Vilks.
  • (4) To safeguard its long-time regional ally, Iran gave full political, economic and military backing to the embattled Syrian president.
  • (5) The incidence of antibody to exotoxin was highest in the age groups ranging from 26 to 32 years, where the positive rates were higher than 40% and 30% for military personnel serving in Sarawak and Sabah, respectively.
  • (6) Abe’s longstanding efforts toward those goals, which include the successful passage of a state secrets act and efforts to expand the scope of Japan’s military activities have already damaged relations with China.
  • (7) The military is not being honest about the number of men on strike: most of us are refusing to eat.
  • (8) This is what President Carter did when he raised the spectre of terminating US military assistance if Israel did not immediately evacuate Lebanon in September 1977.
  • (9) To a large extent, the failure has been a consequence of a cold war-style deadlock – Russia and Iran on one side, and the west and most of the Arab world on the other – over the fate of Bashar al-Assad , a negotiating gap kept open by force in the shape of massive Russian and Iranian military support to keep the Syrian regime in place.
  • (10) Among the dead were two young young officers, Major Mujahid Ali and Captain Usman, whose life stories the media seized upon, helped by the military's public relations machine.
  • (11) The exercise comes at a sensitive time for Poland’s military, following the sacking or forced retirement of a quarter of the country’s generals since the nationalist Law and Justice government came to power in October last year.
  • (12) A questionnaire was presented to 2009 18--19 year old military recruitment candidates which enabled assessment of antipathy towards patients with severe acne vulgaris, the occupational handicap associated with severe acne and subjective inhibitions in acne patients.
  • (13) Chapter three Administration of the camps The preparatory camp is the first home and school of the mujahid in which his military and jihadi training sessions take place and he undergoes sufficient education in matters of his religion, life and jihad.
  • (14) Moallem’s news conference came a day after jihadis captured a major military air base in north-eastern Syria, eliminating the last government-held outpost in a province otherwise dominated by the Islamic State group.
  • (15) They were granted “extraordinary leave” and left with their military equipment to be captured or killed on the streets of the Chechen capital.
  • (16) Tony Abbott urges Europe to adopt Australian policies in refugee crisis Read more Given that Obama – whatever one’s views on his strategy – is not advocating a bigger military contribution, the only difference is that Abbott is “urging” the US and others to do more, which sounds resolute, and Turnbull says he would consider any request if it was made.
  • (17) There has been a tendency to portray Russians as aggressively imperialistic at heart, a homogeneous bloc thirsty for military adventures.
  • (18) Germany’s parliament has thrown its weight behind the European campaign against Islamic State , voting with a solid majority in favour of deploying military personnel to Syria in a non-combat role.
  • (19) Urban ambulance systems emerged in the second half of the 19th century as an outgrowth of military experiences in both Europe and America.
  • (20) They had to be seen as the good guys, and not as either this administration or that administration.” Comey left the justice department in 2005 for Lockheed Martin, the largest military contractor in the US, and eventually an investment firm and Columbia Law School.

Piffle


Definition:

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Is it hopelessly old fart-ish to hope exposure that to the horrors described by Buergenthal will remind all of us of the piffling nature of our next household conflagration about who gets to wear which pair of jeans, or whether homework on the weekend really constitutes a hardship – or even, somehow, temper the demand for new electronic equipment?
  • (2) If he can't do this here, then his global rhetoric will look thin indeed - and it's no use announcing some piffling sum and pretending it will do.
  • (3) Dan Nolan (@dannolan) PEFO more like piffle boom August 13, 2013 3.40am BST Bowen is asked whether the assumptions in PEFO are a reflection on the efficacy or otherwise of the PNG Solution.
  • (4) The bottom line for us is they were asking the taxpayers for $50m to buy new plant and equipment … so Coca-Cola Amatil could make a larger profit,” Hockey said, as he campaigned for next weekend’s by-election in the Brisbane seat of Griffith But Sharman Stone, the Coalition backbencher who represents the area, said the government is “scapegoating” SPC Ardmona and exaggerating “piffling” issues in the companies’ enterprise agreement to draw the struggling fruit manufacturer into a “union witch-hunt”.
  • (5) The government is “scapegoating” SPC Ardmona and exaggerating “piffling” issues in the companies’ enterprise agreement to draw the struggling fruit manufacturer into a “union witch-hunt”, the Coalition backbencher Sharman Stone has said.
  • (6) As a result, disabled people are losing more than any other group, not by some piffling, coincidental amount, but by a factor of three or four; by thousands of pounds a year.
  • (7) It’s true that claimants are sanctioned for piffling reasons .
  • (8) The targets aren't piffling, incidentally – they are significantly beyond "answering to your name".
  • (9) There was never any question of me being offered it, or of it being debated … It’s just, as they say, poppycock and piffle.” The tensions surrounding the reshuffle were illustrated in the early evening as a heated discussion appeared to break out in Corbyn’s office after the Labour leader outlined his thinking for the reshuffle to Benn.
  • (10) Eurosceptics are right to think that the terms secured are piffling, even if he gets everything on the table.
  • (11) But there is, at least, anecdotal evidence to suggest that the often perceptive mayor's notion is an "inverted pyramid of piffle".
  • (12) Over the past century they were used not only to "explain" this piffle about cornflakes but, more insidiously, to explain differences in achievement between black and white schoolchildren in the US.
  • (13) Cameron found himself on the back foot, defending his plans to renegotiate the terms of Britain's EU membership in the face of Lawson's contemptuous assessment that he will secure only "piffling changes".
  • (14) The DfE’s guidelines on the use of exclamation marks for its spelling and grammar tests were “piffle” and “tortuous nonsense”, according to Blower.
  • (15) But Stone, the member for the seat of Murray which includes Shepparton, said the provisions were “piffling” and “add up at most to a few thousand dollars when the company has been losing millions at the plant because of the broader economic conditions and because of the government’s policies.” The “wet” allowance, she said, had only ever been paid to workers who provided their own protective “space suits” to be worn when using caustic soda to clean the plant.
  • (16) Sandler, a perennial Razzie "favourite", saw his film beat rivals such as Will and Jaden Smith sci-fi bomb After Earth , festive celluloid piffle A Madea Christmas and ensemble turkey Movie 43 , all of which scored six nominations.
  • (17) These sentiments are dismissed by Merivel's Quaker friend, Pearce, as "pagan, freakish piffle", but Merivel clings to them, orders an artist's smock and a floppy hat, canvases, pigments and brushes, and sets about his task with his characteristic over-enthusiasm, only to understand very quickly that his work has no value whatsoever.
  • (18) But he wrote a load of racist, reactionary, negative, neocon piffle."
  • (19) There was never any question of me being offered it, or of it being debated … It’s just, as they say, poppycock and piffle.” Facebook Twitter Pinterest “It’s poppycock and piffle”: Diane Abbott dismisses shadow foreign secretary rumour Lewis, a new MP who has served in the army in Afghanistan, said he would not be keen to take on a shadow cabinet role so quickly.
  • (20) Instead, I'm snacking on the scraps of joyous piffle like Alex Polizzi's The Fixer .