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quibbling

   Also found in: Legal, Idioms, Wikipedia 0.03 sec.
quib·ble  (kwbl)
intr.v. quib·bled, quib·bling, quib·bles
1. To evade the truth or importance of an issue by raising trivial distinctions and objections.
2. To find fault or criticize for petty reasons; cavil.
n.
1. A petty distinction or an irrelevant objection.
2. Archaic A pun.

[Probably diminutive of obsolete quib, equivocation, perhaps from Latin quibus, dative and ablative pl. of qu, who, what (from its frequent use in legal documents); see kwo- in Indo-European roots.]

quibbler n.
Synonyms: quibble, carp1, cavil, niggle, nitpick, pettifog
These verbs mean to raise petty or frivolous objections or complaints: quibbling about minor details; a critic who constantly carped; caviling about the price of coffee; an editor who niggled about commas; tried to stop nitpicking all the time; pettifogging about trivialities.
Translations
quibbling [ˈkwɪblɪŋ]
A. ADJquisquilloso
quibbling
adj (= petty) personkleinlich; (= hair-splitting) person, details, argumentspitzfindig
nkleinliches Getue (inf); (= petty criticism)Krittelei f; (= hair-splitting)Haarspalterei f, → Wortklauberei f; all this quibbling about detailsdieses Herumreiten auf Einzelheiten


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? Mentioned in ? References in classic literature
 
Standish, with as much disgust at such non-legal quibbling as a man can well betray towards a valuable client.
In the Euthydemus, Socrates himself offered an example of the manner in which the true teacher may draw out the mind of youth; this was in contrast to the quibbling follies of the Sophists.
 
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