stickle
Americanverb (used without object)
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to argue or haggle insistently, especially on trivial matters.
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to raise objections; scruple; demur.
verb
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to dispute stubbornly, esp about minor points
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to refuse to agree or concur, esp by making petty stipulations
Etymology
Origin of stickle
1520–30; variant of obsolete stightle to set in order, frequentative of stight to set in order, Middle English stighten, Old English stihtan to arrange; cognate with German stiften, Old Norse stētta to set up
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:
Meanwhile in London His Majesty's Government continued to stickle for the oath in a sharp note to the Irish Free State, so sharp that last week neither sender nor receiver would divulge the contents.
From Time Magazine Archive
Classicists from Nick's, who stickle for the traditions of the Chicago Style, nodded their heads in austere approval.
From Time Magazine Archive
Not to stickle, I would surrender them without price.
From Cotton is King, and Pro-Slavery Arguments Comprising the Writings of Hammond, Harper, Christy, Stringfellow, Hodge, Bledsoe, and Cartrwright on This Important Subject by Elliott, E. N.
Oh babbler gay as river stickle, Next year you'll be too old to tickle; But while my Torridge flows I'll say "Blithe Edith liked me half day."
From Ionica by Cory, William (AKA William Johnson)
Such is the influence of Government, that the Devil will every where stickle mightily, to have that siding with him.
From The Wonders of the Invisible World Being an Account of the Tryals of Several Witches Lately Executed in New-England, to which is added A Farther Account of the Tryals of the New-England Witches by Mather, Cotton
Other critics have not stickled to assert that it has mischievously affected the volume of the Colony's industries, a statement which is simply untrue.
From The Long White Cloud by Reeves, William Pember
Ammon stickled for the eternal principle of righteousness, and contended that it had been violated in the first instance.
From Cotton is King, and Pro-Slavery Arguments Comprising the Writings of Hammond, Harper, Christy, Stringfellow, Hodge, Bledsoe, and Cartrwright on This Important Subject by Elliott, E. N.
He stickled as little against mere forms as for them; only, if they stood between the soul and Christ or between a Christian and his brethren, then he was their uncompromising opponent.
From The Life of St. Paul by Stalker, James
We readily perceived that they were close dealers, stickled much for trifles, and never closed the bargain until they thought they had the advantage.
From First Across the Continent The story of the exploring expedition of Lewis and Clark in 1804-5-6 by Brooks, Noah
Sawkins' men taunted him with "backwardness" in that engagement, and "stickled not to defame, or brand him with the note of cowardice."
From On the Spanish Main Or, Some English forays on the Isthmus of Darien. by Masefield, John
The film, which was made largely with a $20,000 grant from the Wikimedia Foundation, spends time showing what has been lost to Wikipedia because of stickling rules of citation and verification.
From New York Times ● Aug. 8, 2011
After the "Schweinehund Speech," however, it was clear that Briand and Poincare are one in stickling for cash.
From Time Magazine Archive
Months elapsed before it was clear to him that his grievance was nothing but idle trifling which originated in his over-anxious stickling at words.
From Dame Care by Overbeck, Bertha
When I recall his last look, resigned and yet smiling in his misery, that look said: 'Innstetten, this is stickling for principle.
From The German Classics of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries, Volume 12 by Various
Perhaps it is in order to compensate for our laxity of interpretation upon these points that we are so rigid in stickling for accuracy upon those which make no demand upon our comfort or convenience?
From The Fair Haven by Streatfeild, R. A. (Richard Alexander)
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.
