cavil
Americanverb (used without object)
-
cavils,
present (3rd person singular)
-
caviled,
past participle, past
-
cavilled,
past participle, past (especially British)
-
caviling,
present participle
-
cavilling
present participle (especially British)
verb (used with object)
-
cavils,
present (3rd person singular)
-
caviled,
past participle, past
-
cavilled,
past participle, past (especially British)
-
caviling,
present participle
-
cavilling
present participle (especially British)
noun
-
a trivial and annoying objection.
-
the raising of such objections.
verb
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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cavilernoun
-
cavillernoun
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outcavilverb (used with object)
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cavillingadjective
-
uncavilingadjective
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uncavillingadjective
-
cavilinglyadverb
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
cavilsimple
-
cavilssimple
-
have caviledperfect
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have cavilledperfect
-
has caviledperfect
-
has cavilledperfect
-
am cavilingprogressive
-
am cavillingprogressive
-
are cavilingprogressive
-
are cavillingprogressive
-
is cavilingprogressive
-
is cavillingprogressive
-
have been cavilingperfect progressive
-
have been cavillingperfect progressive
-
has been cavilingperfect progressive
-
has been cavillingperfect progressive
Past
-
caviledsimple
-
cavilledsimple
-
had caviledperfect
-
had cavilledperfect
-
was cavilingprogressive
-
was cavillingprogressive
-
were cavilingprogressive
-
were cavillingprogressive
-
had been cavilingperfect progressive
-
had been cavillingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of cavil
First recorded in 1540–50; from Latin cavillārī “to jeer, scoff, quibble,” derivative of cavilla “jesting, banter,” perhaps derivative of cav(us) “hollow”; see cave ( def. )
Explanation
If your only cavil to your family's trip to Disney World is that you don't like airline food, you're not representing the anti-Mickey side of the argument very well. A cavil is a small or petty objection. Cavil is not a word that comes up all that often. You can replace it with the more commonly used word quibble and still have the same meaning. If you cavil over a restaurant bill, you argue about the minute, unimportant details of who owes what — like whether your portion of the bill is $10.00 or $10.17.
Vocabulary lists containing cavil
Walden
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Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
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Tolkien Reading Day, List 11
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
This cavil has no bearing on the outcome of the case.
From Slate ● Feb. 20, 2019
They talk a lot about how something must be done about inequality and the need to address social unrest, but cavil at the idea they might be a big part of the problem.
From The Guardian ● Feb. 1, 2019
I wished the corn had been grilled rather than boiled, but that’s a cavil since I consumed two of three ears.
From Seattle Times ● Aug. 30, 2018
Copyright holders may cavil, but it's just such dedication that can make an old canceled show seem like a new good bet.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 16, 2018
The committee awarded Livingston his doctorate without cavil.
From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik
And yet ... as Gray wrote in her review, “None of these cavils stopped me from standing up and cheering, with tears in my eyes, for ‘Last Dance.’”
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 16, 2019
Don’t be put off by these cavils, though.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 28, 2018
Despite my few cavils, “Avid Reader” will be avidly read by anyone interested in the publishing world of the past 60 years.
From Washington Post ● Sep. 14, 2016
Indeed, more than once they have drawn criticism for burying their fundamental message - that society is running some huge risks -- in caveats and cavils.
From New York Times ● Jan. 15, 2013
Columbus had triumphed; he had for the time silenced the sneers and cavils and specious arguments of courtiers and ecclesiastics.
From The Sea: Its Stirring Story of Adventure, Peril, & Heroism. Volume 3 by Frederick Whymper
Prospective investors had caviled at “the benevolence of Starbucks management”, he said, which gave all employees health insurance and stock options; they wanted the money spent on investor returns.
From The Guardian ● Aug. 30, 2017
Indeed, some U.S. policymakers caviled at Thant's plan.
From Time Magazine Archive
Meanwhile, the FCC caviled about the frequencies he wanted to use.
From Time Magazine Archive
Critics caviled in this case because cub reporters do not write editorials under their signatures on the front pages.
From Time Magazine Archive
Yet I caviled at his self-consciousness, his perpetual smile.
From Memories of Hawthorne by Rose Hawthorne Lathrop
This lack of a central authority is one of the reasons why Dimon cavilled in such strong terms last week.
From The Guardian ● Sep. 17, 2017
Critics cavilled slightly at his tendency to inject cosmic significance into his characters' activities.
From Time Magazine Archive
Critics cavilled, questioned the veracity of many incidents, doubted this man had experienced them all.
From Time Magazine Archive
Is it not enough for thee to have cavilled at the first page of the Old Testament on "scientific" grounds?
From Inspiration and Interpretation Seven Sermons Preached Before the University of Oxford by John William Burgon
The very associations which a more refined critic would have cavilled at had their attractions for him, and he gloried in the noise and uproar.
From The Daltons, Volume II (of II) Or,Three Roads In Life by Charles James Lever
What artist would want to tap into the flow of my caviling thoughts in the middle of a performance?
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 18, 2022
Someone better warn these caviling critics about Hamlet.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 13, 2021
“Why do you wear that stuff?” she was asked, a question that has passed between many a caviling mother and obdurate teenage daughter.
From New York Times ● Jun. 21, 2016
It would come off as cheeky caviling to basically say, “I don’t like the way you defended me and my property from a criminal.”
From Slate ● Mar. 31, 2016
The writer of this is one of those few who never dishonors religion, either by ridiculing or caviling at any denominations whatsoever.
From Junius Unmasked or, Thomas Paine the author of the Letters of Junius and the Declaration of Independence by Joel Moody
One reading of “The Shroud of Color” should be enough to convince the most cavilling reader.
From New York Times ● Oct. 21, 2021
In the last month, the drip of doubtful decisions and cavilling explanations has become relentless.
From The New Yorker ● Aug. 12, 2018
But it's Guineas weekend, a good time to celebrate the summer game rather than cavilling.
From The Guardian ● Apr. 30, 2010
Whereupon police, who had been listening, courteously hustled cavilling Major Franco and his huddle to jail for overnight detention.
From Time Magazine Archive
None, that is, worthy of anything but cavilling mention.
From "Nine Stories" by J. D. Salinger
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
