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
-
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.
Rice’s situation — the stickling intruder bent on curtailing the freedom of action customarily enjoyed by denizens of a backwater — may be nothing new to readers of suspense fiction, but Rice himself is full of surprises.
From Washington Post
"It is just about stickling to your systems and trusting in the bubble you are in."
From BBC
Browne's Pastoral, "The Squirrel Hunt," we read of— "Patient anglers, standing all the day Near to some shallow stickle, or deep bay."
From Project Gutenberg
This is seen in their way of stickling for accuracy when others repeat familiar word-forms.
From Project Gutenberg
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
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.
