nitpicker
Americannoun
Etymology
Origin of nitpicker
Explanation
A nitpicker is a person who finds faults, however small or unimportant, everywhere they look. After seeing a movie, a nitpicker lists every tiny thing he or she didn't like about it. Use the informal nitpicker when you're talking about someone who is extremely critical, even when those criticisms seem inconsequential. If you can always find something to complain about, you're probably a nitpicker. This word, from about 1950, comes from the idea of literally picking nits (or lice eggs) out of someone's hair — a nitpicker is as careful and meticulous about finding faults as a literal nitpicker would be about finding each tiny nit.
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.
“I’m not a nitpicker because no filmed entertainment can capture every single fact of a book,” Swanson says.
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 15, 2024
The king had a reputation for being a nitpicker.
From Washington Post • Dec. 11, 2021
As I said, I don't like the role of nitpicker; your column is always fresh and well-written.
From Fox News • Feb. 12, 2019
If you’re a nitpicker, there’s your barely-visible-to-the-eye nit.
From The Verge • Nov. 12, 2014
There is no accepted coaching category called stickler or nitpicker.
From New York Times • Jan. 21, 2012
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.
