caviling 1 of 2

adjective

variants or cavilling
Definition of cavilingnext
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

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

caviling

2 of 2

verb

variants or cavilling
present participle of cavil
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

Examples Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for caviling
  1. critical
  2. complaining
  3. captious
  4. hypercritical
  5. judicious
  6. whining
Adjective
  • But Hurts hasn’t been reliable on a passer in critical scenarios.
    Brooks Kubena, The Athletic, 9 Dec. 2024
  • Proper irrigation is critical, even when leaves have fallen from plants.
    Kim Toscano, Southern Living, 8 Dec. 2024
Definition of critical
Verb
  • Alabama complaining about having to schedule easier nonconference opponents in the future for a better shot at making the College Football Playoff is quite amusing.
    Paul Sullivan, Chicago Tribune, 11 Dec. 2024
  • Jones himself did not attend court this week but used his show to continue complaining about the prospect of The Onion wresting control of his once lucrative conspiracy theory factory.
    Miles Klee, Rolling Stone, 11 Dec. 2024
Definition of complaining
Adjective
  • So much of the new sobriety flex is anathema to the captious alcoholics of 12-step groups.
    Virginia Heffernan, Wired, 19 Apr. 2022
  • 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
Definition of captious
Adjective
  • Especially as a woman online, a lot of people are so hypercritical of that sort of thing.
    Carly Thomas, The Hollywood Reporter, 2 Oct. 2024
  • Savvy and sophisticated, Vivian Kensington embodies Virgo's conservative and meticulous approach, which on the dark side, includes her hypercritical nature and tactical strategy to humiliate Elle Woods.
    Valerie Mesa, Peoplemag, 12 July 2024
Definition of hypercritical
Adjective
  • Conclusion Being judicious about allocating resources is one of the most important jobs for C-suite technology leaders.
    Chris Dimitriadis, Forbes, 25 Nov. 2024
  • Sony is similarly judicious with motion smoothing, which irons out choppier images and hard camera pans effectively on the lowest settings, without making film content look weird.
    Ryan Waniata, WIRED, 22 Sep. 2024
Definition of judicious
Verb
  • Han then used a tuning fork that was set to the tone that is produced by a flies’ whining wings.
    Laura Baisas, Popular Science, 4 Dec. 2024
  • As the Dodgers officially welcomed their latest gazillionaire pitcher to a remodeling Dodger Stadium on Tuesday, the churning of the bulldozers in the infield was momentarily drowned out by the whining around the baseball world.
    Bill Plaschke, Los Angeles Times, 4 Dec. 2024
Definition of whining
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Thesaurus Entries Near caviling

cavilers

caviling

cavils

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Cite this Entry

“Caviling.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/caviling. Accessed 22 Dec. 2024.

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