niggle

American  

[nig-uhl] / ˈnɪg əl /

verb (used without object)

• niggles,
  present (3rd person singular)
• niggled,
  past participle,  past
• niggling
  present participle

1. to criticize, especially constantly or repeatedly, in a peevish or petty way; carp.

   to niggle about the fine points of interpretation; preferring to niggle rather than take steps to correct a situation.

2. to spend too much time and effort on inconsequential details.

   It's difficult to be meticulous and not niggle.

3. to work ineffectively; trifle.

   to niggle with an uninteresting task.

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niggle British  

/ ˈnɪɡəl /

verb

1. (intr) to find fault continually

2. (intr) to be preoccupied with details; fuss

3. (tr) to irritate; worry

---

noun

1. a slight or trivial objection or complaint

2. a slight feeling as of misgiving, uncertainty, etc

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• niggler
  noun
• niggly
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Participles

• niggling
  present
• niggled
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• niggle
  simple
• niggles
  simple
• have niggled
  perfect
• has niggled
  perfect
• am niggling
  progressive
• are niggling
  progressive
• is niggling
  progressive
• have been niggling
  perfect progressive
• has been niggling
  perfect progressive

Past

• niggled
  simple
• had niggled
  perfect
• was niggling
  progressive
• were niggling
  progressive
• had been niggling
  perfect progressive

Future

• will niggle
  simple
• will have niggled
  perfect
• will be niggling
  progressive
• will have been niggling
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of niggle

1610–20; < Scandinavian; compare Norwegian nigla to be penurious (ultimately < Old Norse hnøggr stingy, cognate with Old English hnēaw ); cf. niggard

Explanation

To niggle means to argue over petty things, like battling over who gets the front seat or bickering about who's turn it is to take out the garbage. To niggle is to squabble over something silly or even to persistently nag or worry someone to death. Etymologists believe the verb niggle could be from Scandinavian roots, but there's no point quibbling over its unclear origin. All you need to know is that niggling is largely annoying to all involved.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

niggle niggles niggled niggling

While there was concern behind the scenes at Arsenal about the niggle, they deemed him fit enough to start regularly during their end-of-season run-in.

From BBC ● Jun. 22, 2026

She arrived carrying a slight niggle, and a minor injury that kept her out of October's England camp has slowed her progress.

From BBC ● Nov. 14, 2025

Mbappe had received treatment for a "small niggle" in his right ankle picked up playing for Real Madrid last weekend.

From Barron's ● Oct. 9, 2025

Kartal, who has been managing a knee niggle in recent months, suffered physically in a 6-3 1-6 6-1 defeat against Brazilian 18th seed Beatriz Haddad Maia.

From BBC ● Aug. 26, 2025

Okay, it did niggle, but it was something I could forget easily enough.

From "Never Let Me Go" by Kazuo Ishiguro

Jenkins said he "expected a few niggles" following the operation, but his fitness started to deteriorate rapidly and he "knew nothing had changed".

From BBC ● Jan. 14, 2026

At times he looked like Laurel and Hardy's car with various bits of his body looking like they were going to fall off because of his niggles.

From BBC ● Jul. 27, 2025

In 2023, after a succession of niggles, Jack Draper said he hated "being the guy who is injured a lot".

From BBC ● Jan. 18, 2025

Pep Guardiola has just told TNT Sports that Jeremy Doku is not involved because of "some niggles".

From BBC ● Mar. 5, 2024

"When you've had such a long period of time out, you have got massive risk of picking up niggles in other areas," Anna Poyser, lead physio at the Lawn Tennis Association, told BBC Sport.

From BBC ● Jan. 15, 2024

She said concerns around the situation have "niggled" her since.

From BBC ● Feb. 12, 2026

Although his knee completely gave up on him when the stakes were highest, it has allowed Aspinall to have surgery, solving a problem which has niggled away at him for his entire UFC career.

From BBC ● Jul. 22, 2023

The exclusion crushed Kral, and something else niggled him.

From New York Times ● Jul. 30, 2020

He will be targeted which can lead, as it did in Fortaleza in the quarter-final last year, to him being injured, or it can lead, as it did here, to him being niggled into eruption.

From The Guardian ● Jun. 18, 2015

A small sadness niggled at the back of her mind: this meant Joe would not be coming home until the end of the summer.

From "The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics" by Daniel James Brown

It’s all too easy to live with these niggling problems until one day a problem turns into an incident.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 29, 2026

In a maelstrom, one might think such niggling questions of jurisdiction and their attendant turf wars would be set aside.

From Slate ● Jul. 7, 2026

On a separate farewell podcast for paid subscribers, Maron and his longtime producer Brendan McDonald explained that the relentless workload was tiring and articulated a niggling feeling that the show belonged to a different era.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 23, 2026

The prospect of cuts has helped push world markets ever higher this year, offsetting niggling worries about stretched valuations in the tech sector.

From Barron's ● Dec. 29, 2025

I got into bed, my legs very weary, a niggling pain in the small of my back.

From "Rebecca" by Daphne du Maurier