as in to complain
to make often peevish criticisms or objections about matters that are minor, unimportant, or irrelevant
her husband nitpicks about everything: from how she puts the plates away to how she files the bills
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Recent Examples of nitpick
Gomez has been called out for her Spanish in the film, but that feels like nitpicking in a movie where absurdity often feels like the principle.
—
Glenn Whipp, Los Angeles Times, 1 Jan. 2025
Instead of nitpicking, lean into creating a seductive self-care routine: luxurious baths with candles, essential oils, and maybe a little solo exploration under the sheets to remind yourself of your natural fire.
—Dossé-Via Trenou, refinery29.com, 18 Dec. 2024
People are sick of the Biden administration’s excessive overreach, including the intention to hire 87,000 new Internal Revenue Service agents to nitpick every aspect of their lives.
—Carol Miller, National Review, 16 Dec. 2024
Or perhaps division, as outsiders begin to nitpick the juggernaut and single out which players are most important to the pursuit.
—Kyle Tucker, The Athletic, 4 Apr. 2024
See All Example Sentences for nitpick
Glenn Whipp, Los Angeles Times, 1 Jan. 2025
Instead of nitpicking, lean into creating a seductive self-care routine: luxurious baths with candles, essential oils, and maybe a little solo exploration under the sheets to remind yourself of your natural fire.
—Dossé-Via Trenou, refinery29.com, 18 Dec. 2024
People are sick of the Biden administration’s excessive overreach, including the intention to hire 87,000 new Internal Revenue Service agents to nitpick every aspect of their lives.
—Carol Miller, National Review, 16 Dec. 2024
Or perhaps division, as outsiders begin to nitpick the juggernaut and single out which players are most important to the pursuit.
—Kyle Tucker, The Athletic, 4 Apr. 2024
See All Example Sentences for nitpick
Recent Examples of Synonyms for nitpick
Verb
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Nobody is complaining about the bang for the buck regarding Betts or the Dodgers.—
Terence Moore,
Forbes.com,
29 Mar. 2025
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The executive order against Jenner & Block complains that the firm re-hired a lawyer, Andrew Weissmann, who was part of Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian interference to benefit Trump in the 2016 presidential election.—
Aysha Bagchi,
USA Today,
28 Mar. 2025
Verb
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Some quibble with Sasaki being considered a prospect after playing four seasons in Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball and think Anthony is the game’s best true prospect.—
John Perrotto,
Forbes,
7 Mar. 2025
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The teams of Wikler, Martin and O’Malley have quibbled over other each other’s number of endorsements, particularly Martin’s endorsements.—
Caroline Vakil,
The Hill,
1 Feb. 2025
Verb
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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
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However, the actual interiors of this four-bedroom home are nothing to cavil at.—
Kelly Corbett,
House Beautiful,
7 Oct. 2020
Verb
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On top of this, her mother and sister are fussing about her future relationship status, which leads to them plotting some dates for her.—
Tommy Tuberville,
Newsweek,
7 Mar. 2025
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The world saw this five-man group as an ideal of friendship, a community working and living together, fussing and fighting but making rough beauty out of it.—
Rob Sheffield,
Rolling Stone,
21 Jan. 2025
Verb
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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
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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
Cite this Entry
“Nitpick.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/nitpick. Accessed 2 Apr. 2025.
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