Synonyms for cavilling


Grammar : Verb
Spell : kav-uhl
Phonetic Transcription : ˈkæv əl


Définition of cavilling

Origin :
  • 1540s, from Middle French caviller "to mock, jest," from Latin cavillari "to jeer, mock; satirize, argue scoffingly" (also source of Italian cavillare, Spanish cavilar), from cavilla "jest, jeering," related to calumnia (see calumny).
  • verb quibble
Example sentences :
  • I have no taste for cavilling or grumbling over events that are past.
  • Extract from : « Khartoum Campaign, 1898 » by Bennet Burleigh
  • But the moment we pass the portal all cavilling is awed to silence.
  • Extract from : « Northern Spain » by Edgar T. A. Wigram
  • I do think, dear, you are only cavilling and making difficulties.
  • Extract from : « A Likely Story » by William De Morgan
  • "Shadow-boxing," he observed in a cavilling spirit to his companion.
  • Extract from : « The Adventures of Sally » by P. G. Wodehouse
  • A man's life was a man's life, and what was the use of cavilling at facts!
  • Extract from : « Cape of Storms » by Percival Pollard
  • Yet this was what it amounted to,—their way of cavilling at those who did not belong to their set.
  • Extract from : « Brenda, Her School and Her Club » by Helen Leah Reed
  • These are palpable facts, about which, as facts, there can be no cavilling.
  • Extract from : « Speeches and Letters of Abraham Lincoln, 1832-1865 » by Abraham Lincoln
  • At length, without any measures of force, the cavilling of Spain ceased and she acquiesced in the transfer.
  • Extract from : « Thomas Jefferson » by Edward S. Ellis et. al.
  • Whoever you may be, I caution you against rashly defaming the author of this work, or cavilling in jest against him.
  • Extract from : « The Anatomy of Melancholy » by Democritus Junior
  • Carp′er, one who carps or cavils; Carp′ing, cavilling: fault-finding.
  • Extract from : « Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 1 of 4: A-D) » by Various

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Based on : Thesaurus.com - Gutenberg.org - Dictionary.com - Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019