adjective. Trivial; petty.

Tri fling; trivial; fussily busy with nothing.

noun. The act or practice of playing on the fiddle.

noun. Trifling; useless or unimportant doings; fidgeting with the fingers or hands.

verb. Present participle of fiddle.

noun. action of the verb to fiddle

adjective. Of petty or trivial importance; footling

adjective. (informal) small and of little importance

"Dr Patrick, who researched the subject for a PhD, said: The academics call this ‘gaming’ but front line police officers would call it fiddling the figures, massaging the books or, the current favourite term, ‘good housekeeping’."

unimportant  

middling  piddling  twiddling  

fiddle