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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Everyday businesses most at risk To counter the threat, businesses and leaders should invest in cyber defenses, upgrade old systems or patch faulty software, and limit who has access to critical systems, the Five Eyes leaders said.
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Commercial vessels and oil tankers preparing to transit through the Strait of Hormuz, one of the most critical strategic waterways for global trade flows, maintain their wait in the Gulf of Oman, on June 17, 2026.
Verb
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At one practice during the fall of 2024, Washington’s assistant athletic director of football academics Diamond Brown was standing on the sideline when Jonah bounded up to her in full pads and begun complaining about his grade in a music class.
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Indeed, the internet is full of workers complaining about how their jobs have become akin to manning an assembly line.
Adjective
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So much of the new sobriety flex is anathema to the captious alcoholics of 12-step groups.
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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.
Verb
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Trump’s carping notwithstanding, economic growth spiked during Powell’s first year to 3 percent, the highest since the mid-2000s, and wages rose at the fastest rate since before the financial crisis.
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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.
Adjective
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Drowning in bureaucracy and hypercritical of her colleagues, Santos (Isa Briones) could burn out from frustration and resentment.
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Emond, as Suzanna’s hypercritical mother, puts an Olympic-level spin on her withering observations.
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.
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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.
Verb
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Yes, teaching by example is often a better way of handling a challenge than fussing about it.
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Ever the dedicated mother, Stacy runs to her adult daughter’s aid, fussing at her for not using a driver for her errands.
Verb
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The process left Carruthers bleeding and moaning on May 21, according to the witness, Maria DeLiberato, senior counsel at the American Civil Liberties Union's Capital Punishment Project.
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The stuff with a load of people wearing wigs moaning about taxes just isn’t seen as very glamorous.
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Cite this Entry
“Caviling.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/caviling. Accessed 29 Jun. 2026.
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