cavil

listen to the pronunciation of cavil
English - English
A petty or trivial objection or criticism
To criticise for petty or frivolous reasons
{v} to raise objections, wrangle, quarrel
{n} a captious or frivolous objection
cav·il cavils cavilling cavilled in AM, use caviling, caviled disapproval If you say that someone cavils at something, you mean that they make criticisms of it that you think are unimportant or unnecessary. Let us not cavil too much I don't think this is the time to cavil at the wording of the report. = quibble Cavil is also a noun. These cavils aside, most of the essays are very good indeed. to make unnecessary complaints about someone or something cavil at (cavillari , from cavilla )
an evasion of the point of an argument by raising irrelevant distinctions or objections
{i} fault-finding criticism; annoying and insignificant objection; raising of cavils
To cavil at
To criticise for petty reasons
{f} complain, criticize, find fault, raise annoying and insignificant objections
raise trivial objections
To raise captious and frivolous objections; to find fault without good reason
caviling
cavilation
caviling
Present participle of cavil
cavilling
cavillation
cavilling
Present participle of cavil
caviller
{n} one who cavils, a captious disputant
caviling
Disposed to cavil; finding fault without good reason
caviling
quibbling over insignificant details; "caviling pettifoggers and quiggling pleaders"-Edmund Burke; "her nagging and carping attack"; "thought her editor unnecessarily nitpicking"; "a pettifogging lawyer's mind"; "had no patience with quibbling critics"
caviller
{i} one who looks for defects, one who finds fault, one who criticizes
caviller
One who cavils
cavils
To raise captious and frivolous objections; to find fault without good reason; third person singular of "cavil
cavil

    Hyphenation

    ca·vil

    Pronunciation

    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.“” and “” listed in the Oxford English Dictionary
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