as in slight
so small or unimportant as to warrant little or no attention
only niggling differences between the original Broadway musical and the film version that followed
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
as in complaining
to make often peevish criticisms or objections about matters that are minor, unimportant, or irrelevant
you know it drives me crazy when you niggle like that
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of niggling
Kim Velsey, Curbed, 29 Aug. 2024
And yet, a niggling sense of loss remains after the season 5 finale; many of Diana’s most important moments and relationships are relegated to a handful of scenes.
—Lauren Puckett-Pope, ELLE, 10 Nov. 2022
Adjective
The sellers got slightly more than their asking price without any niggling 11th-hour negotiations.
—Kim Velsey, Curbed, 29 Aug. 2024
And yet, a niggling sense of loss remains after the season 5 finale; many of Diana’s most important moments and relationships are relegated to a handful of scenes.
—Lauren Puckett-Pope, ELLE, 10 Nov. 2022
Recent Examples of Synonyms for niggling
Adjective
-
However, at some point while walking the red carpet on Saturday, May 17, the two got mixed up in slight blunder when the Twilight star, 39, ended up standing on top of his costar's elegant Dior gown that, according to Vogue, took 250 hours to create.—
Michelle Lee,
People.com,
19 May 2025
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Meanwhile, a DeepMind researcher discussed adversarial machine learning, a phenomenon where slight manipulations to input data can drastically alter an AI’s output.—
Korok Ray,
Forbes.com,
19 May 2025
Verb
-
The irony of the quintessential real estate expert buying a home in the flight path of an international airport, then complaining about the noise, is not lost on the rest of Palm Beach County.—
Miami Herald Archives,
Miami Herald,
8 Jan. 2025
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That first-round pick became Merriman (although, the Giants aren't complaining).—
Ryan Morik,
Fox News,
8 Jan. 2025
Adjective
-
Chris Lombardi, founder of Matador Records, recalls first pitching Perry’s idea to Stephen Malkmus, the band’s notoriously laconic chief songwriter, singer, guitarist and nominal leader.—
Mark Olsen,
Los Angeles Times,
8 May 2025
-
What’s more, most state parks have no admission fee while a few charge a nominal fee of a few dollars.—
Roger Sands,
Forbes.com,
4 May 2025
Adjective
-
Each encounter brings four options for how to beat that opponent, a prime opportunity to make petty jokes.—
Jayna Bardahl,
New York Times,
16 May 2025
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As a result, defendants in Colorado’s municipal courts can face much longer sentences than those in state court for the same petty offenses, The Denver Post previously found.—
Sam Tabachnik,
Denver Post,
16 May 2025
Adjective
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The group inflicted widespread abuse and brutality on the tiny population that remained, sparking an outpouring of relief when the army retook it.—
Emmanuel Akinwotu,
NPR,
16 May 2025
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Compatible with Windows, macOS, Android and more, this tiny SSD is available in 512GB, 1TB and 2TB capacities and offers data transfer speeds up to a maximum of 20Gbps, although that depends on the speed of the host device and some MacBooks and iPhones may top out at 10Gbps speeds.—
Mark Sparrow,
Forbes.com,
16 May 2025
Cite this Entry
“Niggling.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/niggling. Accessed 23 May. 2025.
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