cavil (redirected from caviled)

cav·il  (kvl)

v. cav·iled also cav·illed, cav·il·ing also cav·il·ling, cav·ils also cav·ils

v.intr.

To find fault unnecessarily; raise trivial objections. See Synonyms at quibble.

v.tr.

To quibble about; detect petty flaws in.

n.

A carping or trivial objection.

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[French caviller, from Old French, from Latin cavillr, to jeer, from cavilla, a jeering.]

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cavil·er n.

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cavil

Verb

[-illing, -illed] or US [-iling, -iled]

to raise annoying petty objections

Noun

a petty objection [Latin cavillari to jeer]

Thesaurus

Noun	1.	cavil - an evasion of the point of an argument by raising irrelevant distinctions or objections quibble, quiddity equivocation, evasion - a statement that is not literally false but that cleverly avoids an unpleasant truth
Verb	1.	cavil - raise trivial objections carp, chicane object - express or raise an objection or protest or criticism or express dissent; "She never objected to the amount of work her boss charged her with"; "When asked to drive the truck, she objected that she did not have a driver's license"