cavil
To criticise for petty or frivolous reasonsTo criticise for petty or frivolous reasons.
» I didn't expect him to cavil about such a minor detail.
rul · Tatoeba · CC BY 2.0 FRMeaning
1 sensesTo criticise for petty or frivolous reasons.
nörgeln, kritteln, schikanieren
придира́тьсяpridirátʹsja
- raise trivial objections
Examples
2 sentencesI didn't expect him to cavil about such a minor detail.
He was known to cavil at most of Tom's proposals.
Translations
7 languagesBy meaning 1
By meaning 1
Origin
From Old French caviller (“mock, jest, rail”), from Latin cavillor (“jeer, mock, satirise,From Old French caviller (“mock, jest, rail”), from Latin cavillor (“jeer, mock, satirise, reason captiously”), from cavilla (“jeering, raillery, scoffing”); cognate with Italian cavillare, Portuguese cavillar, and Spanish cavilar; nominal usage developed within English from the original verbal usage.
Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
Forms
cavils, caviling, caviled, caviledSynonyms
6 synonymsWord family
3 related wordsLessons for this word
3 lessons- A1Present simple — Because it is a verb
- A1Past simple, regular verbs — Because of its past form
- A2Present perfect: introduction — Because of its past participle
See also
neighbours in the dictionaryDictionary text adapted from Wiktionary (Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0) and Open English WordNet / Princeton WordNet (CC BY 4.0, WordNet License); shared under CC BY-SA 4.0. Example sentences and recordings are credited where they appear.