Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun The act of raising captious and frivolous objections; an objection of a captious nature: as, “cavillings and menacings,”
- Raising frivolous objections; fault-finding.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- adjective Disposed to cavil; finding fault without good reason. See
captious .
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- verb Present participle of
cavil . - noun
cavilation
Etymologies
Sorry, no etymologies found.
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Examples
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BMW's Mini brand has managed to spin off iterations of the Mini Cooper that are bigger and offer more doors see my recent caviling about the Countryman but the company runs the risk of exhausting its small-car cred.
In Geneva, Guessing at a Gas-Guzzling Future Dan Neil 2011
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And indeed, if young voters keep caviling about the government they abhor without taking part in political process to help reshape it (after all we are a country of over three hundred million individuals, change will not come as fast or grand as they would prefer), then yes, we may have trains running on time soon, and little else.
Rizwan A. Rahmani: The Indifference of Younger Voters and Our Imperiled Democracy Rizwan A. Rahmani 2010
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The caviling over Awlaki's death began almost the moment the news was announced yesterday.
Killing Awlaki 2011
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You sometimes have to force yourself to be nitpicking, faultfinding, caviling, hypercritical.
The Fiddler in the Subway Gene Weingarten 2010
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"Double Standard" -- the name itself a critics 'bull's-eye -- doesn't show Hopper to best advantage, falling short of a presentation that would offset the caviling.
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While the issue of legal responsibility is still to be determined a to where the legal responsibility lies between the rig operator or BP, BP is not caviling and says it is prepared to do whatever it takes to stop the underwater gusher and clean up the spill.
Raymond J. Learsy: A Tale of Two Companies -- Goldman Sachs and BP 2010
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While the issue of legal responsibility is still to be determined a to where the legal responsibility lies between the rig operator or BP, BP is not caviling and says it is prepared to do whatever it takes to stop the underwater gusher and clean up the spill.
Raymond J. Learsy: A Tale of Two Companies-- Goldman Sachs and BP 2010
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You sometimes have to force yourself to be nitpicking, faultfinding, caviling, hypercritical.
The Fiddler in the Subway Gene Weingarten 2010
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I could put up with her constant caviling about which depreciation schedule to use for business equipment if she would just stay out of my personal life!
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"Double Standard" -- the name itself a critics 'bull's-eye -- doesn't show Hopper to best advantage, falling short of a presentation that would offset the caviling.
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