cavil
to raise irritating and trivial objections; find fault with unnecessarily (usually followed by at or about): He finds something to cavil at in everything I say.
to oppose by inconsequential, frivolous, or sham objections: to cavil each item of a proposed agenda.
a trivial and annoying objection.
the raising of such objections.
Origin of cavil
1Other words for cavil
Other words from cavil
- cav·il·er; especially British, cav·il·ler, noun
- cav·il·ing·ly; especially British, cav·il·ling·ly, adverb
- outcavil, verb (used with object), out·cav·iled, out·cav·il·ing or (especially British) out·cav·illed, out·cav·il·ling.
- un·cav·il·ing, adjective
- un·cav·il·ling, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use cavil in a sentence
There were not wanting ungenerous cavillers to insinuate doubts that he and Burke had been at the Gulf.
Successful Exploration Through the Interior of Australia | William John WillsBut there is more sense and infinite humour in the mode which Phædrus adopted to answer the cavillers of his age.
Curiosities of Literature, Vol. 1 (of 3) | Isaac D'IsraeliDoubters and cavillers were silenced, and regular trips were made till the ice closed the river for the season.
Great Men and Famous Women. Vol. 6 of 8 | VariousHe checked the impertinence, and silenced the vanity of captious cavillers.
Other objections of cavillers have their appropriate answers.
The Wave of Scepticism and the Rock of Truth | Matthew Henry Habershon
British Dictionary definitions for cavil
/ (ˈkævɪl) /
(intr; foll by at or about) to raise annoying petty objections; quibble; carp
a captious trifling objection
Origin of cavil
1Derived forms of cavil
- caviller, noun
- cavilling, adjective
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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