as in to complain
to make often peevish criticisms or objections about matters that are minor, unimportant, or irrelevant
caviled for hours about a single sentence
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
as in quibble
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
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Recent Examples of cavil
Michael Hiltzik, Los Angeles Times, 10 May 2021
However, the actual interiors of this four-bedroom home are nothing to cavil at.
—Kelly Corbett, House Beautiful, 7 Oct. 2020
Verb
Naysayers often cavil that California’s economic growth depends almost entirely on Silicon Valley and the capital gains income of its wealthiest residents, but its primacy in high technology encompasses fields outside Northern California, such as biotech.
—Michael Hiltzik, Los Angeles Times, 10 May 2021
However, the actual interiors of this four-bedroom home are nothing to cavil at.
—Kelly Corbett, House Beautiful, 7 Oct. 2020
Recent Examples of Synonyms for cavil
Verb
-
Nobody is complaining about the bang for the buck regarding Betts or the Dodgers.—
Terence Moore,
Forbes.com,
29 Mar. 2025
-
The crowds have since grown, but with more teams at fewer sites, some teams have complained about logistics like sharing court space, finding enough hotels and the travel schedule.—
Sabreena Merchant,
New York Times,
28 Mar. 2025
Noun
-
But that’s a minor quibble about a kitchen that otherwise exudes competence.—
Helen Rosner,
New Yorker,
30 Mar. 2025
-
And at that point, why quibble over which exact rules got broken?—
Kelsey Piper,
Vox,
28 Mar. 2025
Verb
-
For one, both experts say that being too rigid can also lead to self-sabotaging behaviors, like rejecting otherwise great matches for superficial reasons or coming up with excuses to nitpick things that never mattered before.—
Jenna Ryu,
SELF,
14 Feb. 2025
-
Plus, getting to know each other tends to take priority over nitpicking the small stuff during the whirlwind honeymoon phase.—
Jenna Ryu,
SELF,
24 Jan. 2025
Noun
-
The basketball star has a reputation for being able to silence media noise in the most crucial moments, but the family element of this quarrel seems to have hit a little too close to home this time.—
Christian Orozco,
Los Angeles Times,
29 Mar. 2025
-
Carter’s eleventh-hour time line seems to be wrong, but the matter won’t be settled by these quarrels.—
Nathan Heller,
The New Yorker,
15 Mar. 2025
Verb
-
Really good, and if you’re not fussed about mod cons or hybrid tech, one can be sat on your driveway for just £18,850 ($24,388).—
Matthew MacConnell,
Forbes.com,
31 Mar. 2025
-
Even so, the film’s Very Online fandom didn’t seem fussed.—
Louis Staples,
Rolling Stone,
24 Mar. 2025
Noun
-
At the start of the current campaign, there were some doubts that Ovechkin would break the record.—
Trent Reinsmith,
Forbes.com,
31 Mar. 2025
-
The reality star has teamed up with TRESemmé for the new Lamellar Gloss Collection's Give Gloss campaign, and there's no doubt — she was made for this.—
Catherine Santino,
People.com,
31 Mar. 2025
Verb
-
This was a departure from Mourinho and Conte, who both moaned about investment, attacked the club culture, exited unceremoniously, and bad-mouthed them afterward.—
Zak Garner-Purkis,
Forbes,
23 Mar. 2025
-
At the time of its release, fancy people who considered themselves film aficionados moaned that Dumb and Dumber was the beginning of the end of civilization.—
Stephanie Zacharek,
TIME,
19 Mar. 2025
Noun
-
In a press conference Friday, Atlanta Police Department homicide commander Lt. Andrew Smith said that officers responded to a dispute with a weapon Friday, which was Young Scooter's 39th birthday.—
Jay Stahl,
USA Today,
29 Mar. 2025
-
Representation has occurred in litigation, intellectual property negotiations, labor and employment disputes, mergers and acquisitions, stadium financing deals and assorted other matters.—
Michael McCann,
Sportico.com,
29 Mar. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Cavil.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/cavil. Accessed 4 Apr. 2025.
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