cavil
verb (used without object)
to raise irritating and trivial objections; find fault with unnecessarily (usually followed by at orabout ).
caviller
-
a word derived from
cavil.
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.
This is a fine legal quibble, stated for a purpose; but since legal minds disagree upon this point, a caviller might say no law is self-executing; all laws require enforcement.
From History of Woman Suffrage, Volume II by Elizabeth Cady Stanton
Surely none but a caviller will find any want of harmony between these different modes of expression.
From The Theology of Holiness by Dougan Clark
And a caviller might perhaps go farther, and ask the significant question, Are we not known all over the world as a race of arrant braggarts?
From The Continental Monthly, Vol. 4, No. 2, August, 1863 Devoted to Literature and National Policy by Various
He was no conceited or froward caviller at authority, nor born rebel against established teachers and governors.
From Critical Miscellanies (Vol. 2 of 3) Turgot by John Morley
The caviller will say at once: "Could not someone else have done the work equally well—either a near relation in the other sphere or a ministering angel?"
From Seen and Unseen by E. Katharine Bates
