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Glite Dictionary
🕳️ A small hole 😑 A minor irritation
pinprick

pinprick

2 4.9
A small thing that bothers you a little
  • noun
  • /ˈpɪnˌprɪk/
translation icon : irritación
  • The constant pinpricks from the mosquito bites made it hard for her to concentrate.
  • just a pinprick
  • feel pinpricks

Like Iran, Israel gets to be a real thing, not just a pinprick and a little bombing here in an assassination there.

Examples

  • He often described his little brother's annoying habits as mere pinpricks to his patience.

  • This raid, even if we make it through, it'll only be a pinprick.

    Pearl Harbor (2001)

  • It isn't much—just a pinprick.

    Fiction book (1990)

  • Dealing with daily traffic jams can feel like a series of pinpricks that wear you down.

Synonyms

pebble in someone's shoe
vspinprick
  • Informal
7.0

A small problem that keeps annoying you

is a slight annoyance that is not usually long lasting

Antonyms

major issue
51 3.2

An important problem that needs a solution

How Annoying

aggravation
14 4.8
irritation
27 3.6
pinprick
2 4.9

Surface Forms

pinprick singular
pinpricks plural

Morphology

pinprick = pin + prick (semi-transparent) = pin + prick

The metaphorical extension to mean a minor irritation or annoyance is related to the literal sense (small sharp pain) but is a figurative development not fully predictable from the components.

Etymology

Pinprick is also used to mean a very small but annoying thing, from the image of a tiny pin 'pricking' you so it hurts a little. So a pinprick describes something minor that still bothers you.