1
as in teasing
to attack repeatedly with mean put-downs or insults
we needled him mercilessly for thinking that he had any chance of being the prom date for the school's most popular girl
Synonyms & Similar Words
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2
as in nagging
to subject (someone) to constant scoldings and sharp reminders
quit needling me! I'll take out the trash in a minute!
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of needling
Fran Hoepfner, Vulture, 5 Aug. 2025
Verb
Where internet trolls often come off as flippant or spiteful, there is a relentless sense of play and mastery of language in even McNally’s most needling posts.
—Fran Hoepfner, Vulture, 5 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for needling
Verb
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As of this writing, there's no official trailer for Interview With the Vampire season 3, though AMC did drop a teaser teasing Lestat's life as a rock icon.—
Randall Colburn,
Entertainment Weekly,
1 Oct. 2025
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Emerald Fennell is teasing her film adaptation of Wuthering Heights, which garnered significant attention following the release of the trailer earlier this month.—
Armando Tinoco,
Deadline,
29 Sep. 2025
Verb
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Neither Winter nor Reeves cares much if audiences buy tickets expecting more Bill and Ted good times, only to be confronted with Beckett’s nagging existentialism instead.—
Brent Lang,
Variety,
1 Oct. 2025
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Napier’s playcalling has been the focus of most outside criticism, but the lack of offensive continuity each game may be the largest issue nagging Florida.—
Noah White,
Miami Herald,
24 Sep. 2025
Adjective
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To get a sense of his whole deal, look no further than the half-mocking, half-earnest title of his latest album, Country!—
Jonathan Bernstein,
Rolling Stone,
23 Sep. 2025
Verb
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During the game in the first quarter, DeJean was called for an unsportsmanlike penalty for taunting.—
Evan Massey,
MSNBC Newsweek,
28 Sep. 2025
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Joe LaCava violated Rory’s airspace on the 18th green while taunting the same gallery that had teased his player, Patrick Cantlay, who had reportedly declined to wear a team hat to protest the lack of player compensation at such a big event.—
Ian O'Connor,
New York Times,
24 Sep. 2025
Verb
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Rachel Goldberg-Polin emerged as a moral voice, urging an end to the war and healing for Israel's internal divisions.—
Romina Ruiz-Goiriena,
USA Today,
4 Oct. 2025
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The city of Evanston, an urban suburb of Chicago, issued a statement warning its residents of impending raids by ICE agents and urging them to report sightings of law enforcement.—
Rebecca Schneid,
Time,
4 Oct. 2025
Verb
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The former is the owner of a New York City hotspot; the latter is a man on the run from loan sharks, with heaps of personal issues and bad debts hounding him.—
Erik Kain,
Forbes.com,
19 Sep. 2025
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Inappropriate client interaction such as hounding a woman to come over to his house late at night and slipshod work that ended with a grandmother’s eviction got a Daytona Beach attorney suspended from his law career for two years.—
David J. Neal,
Miami Herald,
17 Sep. 2025
Adjective
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Vice President Vance appeared on FOX News Channel’s The Ingraham Angle hours after the heckling incident, telling the host about visiting with the national guardsmen and discussing recent changes to the city, while briefly mentioning the protesters.—
Jillian Frankel,
People.com,
21 Aug. 2025
Verb
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But quite incredibly, the third and final chance went begging as Ozer saved superbly.—
Gregg Evans,
New York Times,
2 Oct. 2025
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In a throwback to the warts-and-all silliness of the family’s legendary MTV reality show, The Osbournes, Coming Home appears to lean into the domestic comedy of the Osbourne clan, opening with a jittery Ozzy begging Sharon to stop driving in a herky-jerky manner.—
Gil Kaufman,
Billboard,
1 Oct. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Needling.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/needling. Accessed 5 Oct. 2025.
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