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
George Caulkin,
New York Times,
18 May 2026
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
Clara Moskowitz,
Scientific American,
10 Apr. 2026
Henry dismisses Yasmin but can’t shake the niggling feeling that his wife isn’t entirely wrong.
—
Amanda Whiting,
Vulture,
16 Feb. 2026
There are niggling, nagging, familiar concerns, like not taking chances, like being hit on the counter, but our section erupts when Willock scores and then erupts again when his goal is ruled out.
—
George Caulkin,
New York Times,
11 Feb. 2026
The hard part of getting cars to drive themselves is the last niggling 1 percent of reliability.
—
IEEE Spectrum,
18 Oct. 2016
Adjective
Their season has been busy, grumpy and overstretched, and pressure has been a niggling, constant companion, particularly at home, but their opponents on Sunday were hapless, soft in defence and muddled in their thinking.
—
George Caulkin,
New York Times,
18 May 2026
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
Verb
The new calculation, made at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) near Geneva, could help solve a niggling mystery about this particle’s mass.
—
Clara Moskowitz,
Scientific American,
10 Apr. 2026
Henry dismisses Yasmin but can’t shake the niggling feeling that his wife isn’t entirely wrong.
—
Amanda Whiting,
Vulture,
16 Feb. 2026
There are niggling, nagging, familiar concerns, like not taking chances, like being hit on the counter, but our section erupts when Willock scores and then erupts again when his goal is ruled out.
—
George Caulkin,
New York Times,
11 Feb. 2026
The hard part of getting cars to drive themselves is the last niggling 1 percent of reliability.
—
IEEE Spectrum,
18 Oct. 2016
Recent Examples of Synonyms for niggling
Adjective
-
There's a marginal risk of severe weather near the Twin Cities, with a slight risk in the central and northwestern part of the state.
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Man, to see that Curaçao player — in a moment that’s quite important to him, that is earned over so many years of effort — give a slight nod to the invisible man, that warms my heart and brings a smile to my face.
Verb
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But John Healey stepped down as defense secretary this month after complaining that Starmer was not moving fast enough to meet the target.
-
Still, some users are complaining online.
Adjective
-
Note that there is a nominal surcharge for using credit instead of cash.
-
Competent guides are available at a nominal fee, and the bite for a nonresident fishing license is only $5.
Verb
-
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.
-
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.
Adjective
-
Some were petty — like Reese committing a foul against Clark, then jerking her head back, impersonating Clark as a flopper.
-
As long as there have been people, there have been petty complaints about people.
Verb
-
Yes, teaching by example is often a better way of handling a challenge than fussing about it.
-
Ever the dedicated mother, Stacy runs to her adult daughter’s aid, fussing at her for not using a driver for her errands.
Adjective
-
Merlin, a 2-year-old duck, has taken the internet by storm, captivating fans with his tiny form-fitting Team Mexico jersey and confident waddle around his home of Mexico City.
-
Providing indefinite joy for the price of just one night at a hotel, this Instagram-worthy blow-up shelter is practically a portable tiny home that sets up within a few minutes.
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.
-
The stuff with a load of people wearing wigs moaning about taxes just isn’t seen as very glamorous.
Cite this Entry
“Niggling.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/niggling. Accessed 30 Jun. 2026.
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