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:
Classicists from Nick's, who stickle for the traditions of the Chicago Style, nodded their heads in austere approval.
From Time Magazine Archive
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
Some critics, however, object to the of, because the dismissing is not the servant's act; but this, as I shall hereafter show, is no valid objection: they stickle for a false rule.
From The Grammar of English Grammars by Goold Brown
"But you did stickle about words an hour ago," said Mr. Hempstead, with some severity.
From Jennie Baxter, Journalist by Robert Barr
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 E. N. Elliott
"One party of English soldiers stickled not to contravene these commands, being tempted with the desire of finding victuals."
From On the Spanish Main Or, Some English forays on the Isthmus of Darien. by John Masefield
You may remember, Sam, that your poor father always stickled for a roast leg of lamb at Easter.
From Shining Ferry by Sir Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch
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 Noah Brooks
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 E. N. Elliott
The widow Bevis indeed stickled hard for me.
From Clarissa Harlowe; or the history of a young lady — Volume 5 by Samuel Richardson
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
Such a centralization must inevitably be produced by decay of that stubborn stickling for rights, out of which local self-government has always grown.
From History of Woman Suffrage, Volume III by Elizabeth Cady Stanton
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 Bertha Overbeck
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 R. A. (Richard Alexander) Streatfeild
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.
