căvillātĭo, ōnis, f. [cavillor],
I a jeering , raillery , scoffing , irony in jest or in earnest: cum duo genera sint facetiarum, alterum aequabiliter in omni sermone fusum, alterum peracutum et breve: illa a veteribus superior cavillatio, haec altera dicacitas nominata est, Cic. de Or. 2, 54, 218: cavillatio est jocosa calumniatio, Paul. ex Fest. p. 45 Müll.; Plaut. Stich. 1, 3, 75; id. Truc. 3, 2, 17; Suet. Vesp. 23; Gell. 5, 5, 2: inter consules magis cavillatio quam magna contentio de provinciā fuit, Liv. 42, 32, 1: acerba, Suet. Tib. 57: nominis, id. Gram. 3.—
II Meton., an empty , sophistical discourse , sophistry (so most freq. in Quint.), Cic. ap. Sen. Ep. 111, 1; cf. Dig. 50, 16, 177: ineptae, Quint. 7, 9, 4: infelix verborum, id. 10, 7, 14; cf. id. 2, 17, 7: manifesta, id. 9, 1, 15: juris, id. 7, 4, 37: sine metu cavillationis, id. 2, 14, 5.