variants
or cavilling
as in critical
given to making or expressing unfavorable judgments about things
a caviling theater critic who has yet to see a play she likes
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
variants
or cavilling
as in complaining
to make often peevish criticisms or objections about matters that are minor, unimportant, or irrelevant
caviled for hours about a single sentence
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Recent Examples of Synonyms for caviling
Adjective
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Xi Jinping has remarked that relying on foreign supply of critical technologies—like semiconductors—is tantamount to building one's house on someone else's foundation.—
Joel Thayer,
MSNBC Newsweek,
16 Sep. 2025 -
Bynum made a diving catch that extinguished a critical drive for the Broncos.—
The Athletic NFL Staff,
New York Times,
15 Sep. 2025
Verb
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Not that mom was complaining all that much about her daughter's efforts.—
Jack Beresford,
MSNBC Newsweek,
20 Sep. 2025
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For decades state and local officials have joined ordinary Americans in complaining that FEMA's response to natural disasters is too slow and complicated.—
Sarah D. Wire,
USA Today,
20 Sep. 2025
Adjective
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So much of the new sobriety flex is anathema to the captious alcoholics of 12-step groups.—
Virginia Heffernan,
Wired,
19 Apr. 2022
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That a right-wing party traditionally captious about American patriotism did not react heatedly to evidence of Russian interference in US elections is bizarre.—
Darryl Pinckney,
The New York Review of Books,
5 Nov. 2020
Verb
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Should the pattern hold true throughout the long march to the Super Bowl, nobody’s going to be carping about the official headcount.—
Anthony Crupi,
Sportico.com,
19 Sep. 2025
Adjective
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My hypercritical brain took this imperfection and ran with it.—
Jailynn Taylor,
Allure,
26 June 2025
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This has led to multiple fans getting hypercritical of the iconic wrestler, calling out his age and accusing him of simply being a product of former WCW president Eric Bischoff.—
Jeremy Hanna,
MSNBC Newsweek,
19 June 2025
Verb
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In one of the videos, she's seen rinsing her eye in a hospital sink, while moaning from the discomfort.—
Nick Romano,
Entertainment Weekly,
15 Sep. 2025
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Julia says, dropping to all fours and moaning amid a pile of straw on the floor.—
Kimberly Roots,
TVLine,
5 Sep. 2025
Adjective
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As this is a smaller toy and one with judicious amounts of diecast in the joints, this should make for a very good rendition of this classic mecha from Metal Gear Solid.—
Ollie Barder,
Forbes.com,
28 Aug. 2025
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But be judicious about application and follow the label instructions because these products kill beneficial bugs, too.—
Arricca Elin SanSone,
Southern Living,
24 Aug. 2025
Verb
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Joy Randolph and John Early, as the two Afterlife Coordinators, have a quibbling charisma, but the movie should have done more with all its possible versions of paradise, figuring out how to use them comedically instead of just as easy punchlines.—
Owen Gleiberman,
Variety,
10 Sep. 2025
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When the murder of 100,000 people, many of them women and children, is mentioned or denounced, or when someone dares to use terms such as genocide, ethnocide, ethnic cleansing or similar, most people choose to take issue with the characterization, quibbling over semantics.—
Uriel Kon
September 2,
Literary Hub,
2 Sep. 2025
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Cite this Entry
“Caviling.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/caviling. Accessed 22 Sep. 2025.
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