to cavil
1
9.9
- verb
- /ˈkævəl/
:
cavilación
- When the plan was presented, he couldn't help but cavil at its feasibility.
Examples
-
She tends to cavil about the smallest mistakes in the report.
-
Or do you only propose to criticize and cavil as you are wont to do?
Blog text (29) -
To cavil is to make petty objections that really aren't necessary.
Blog text (7) -
Instead of celebrating this abundance, however, we tend to cavil and carp.
Academic text (1995) -
And yet, you wonder why I cavil against policies involving the assumption that group ("mob") rules trump individual rights in whole or part?
Blog text (18) -
The television was turned on around 7:00 A.M. by the children and off about 10:00 or 10:30 (pp. 107-117). You are in no position to cavil, unless to shrug and say, "What can one expect of Anglos?"
Academic text (2006) -
As an instance of the former, I have in mind Caluccio Salutati's exclamations that the sweetness of one's love for the patria is such that one must not cavil at crushing one's brothers or delivering "from the womb of one's wife the premature child with the sword."
Academic text (1991) -
It's not worth it to cavil over minor details during the discussion.
Synonyms
26
7.0
To argue about small unimportant details to avoid the main point
21
5.7
To complain about very small unimportant mistakes
5
7.9
To complain about small or unimportant things
1
8.2
To argue about very small, unimportant details
1
9.9
To argue in a stubborn way about small unimportant details
To raise small objections to delay or block progress
Antonyms
How Petty
26
7.0
21
5.7
1
9.9
∞
1.0
349
5.1
701
3.3
Surface Forms
Etymology
Cavil as a verb comes from the Latin root cavillari meaning 'to mock', so to cavil is to make petty, unnecessary objections, almost like finding fault for the sake of it.