Just because nugatory isn’t the most common word in the English language doesn’t mean it’s trifling. Rather, nugatory is literally trifling because the two words are synonymous, as in “comments too nugatory to merit attention.” Nugatory first appeared in English in the 17th century; it comes from the Latin adjective nugatorius, which can mean not only “trifling” or “frivolous” but also "futile.” This sense carried over into English as well, and so in some contexts nugatory means “ineffective” or “having no force,” as when Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Marilynne Robinson invoked “the nugatory value of the contemporary penny.” Nugatory may mean little to some, but we think it’s worth a pretty penny.