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
If one could have put in any claim of kindred, even in the third or fourth degree, it would have been a case in which to stickle hard for the full privileges of relationship.
From Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 59, No. 363, January, 1846 by Various
Good God, man!" he blazed; "are you plumb daft to stickle for little niceties now?
From Where the Trail Divides by Lillibridge, Will
I did not like to stickle, and went.
From The Life of William Ewart Gladstone, Vol. 1 (of 3) 1809-1859 by Morley, John
"Ten to one as a County magnate he stickled for it, and the High Sheriff put him on the panel to keep him amused."
From Lady Good-for-Nothing by Quiller-Couch, Arthur Thomas, Sir
He was followed by Peel who, professing to uphold the independence of the upper house, declared against the more obnoxious amendments, and stickled only for points which the ministry was not unwilling to concede.
From The Political History of England - Vol XI From Addington's Administration to the close of William IV.'s Reign (1801-1837) by Brodrick, George C. (George Charles)
The widow Bevis indeed stickled hard for me.
From Clarissa Harlowe; or the history of a young lady — Volume 5 by Richardson, Samuel
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
"You may even say, My Lord," replied Athos, who stickled for propriety.
From The Three Musketeers by Dumas père, Alexandre
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
It was certainly ridiculous for man who had once so selfishly consulted his own interests to be stickling now about the rights of others.
From The Rise of Silas Lapham by Howells, William Dean
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 Stanton, Elizabeth Cady
If you don't see why, then you do not know the stickling of a Briton's sense of law and a Scotchman's conscience.
From The Freebooters of the Wilderness by Laut, Agnes C. (Agnes Christina)
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.
