1
as in complaining
to make often peevish criticisms or objections about matters that are minor, unimportant, or irrelevant
he spent the entire evening quibbling about the historical inaccuracies in the television series on World War II
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in bickering
to express different opinions about something often angrily
don't quibble over who gets to sit in front
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
as in nitpicking
Related Words
Dissimilar Words
as in ambiguity
Related Words
Dissimilar Words
Example Sentences
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
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Recent Examples of quibbling
Jodie Cook, Forbes.com, 25 Aug. 2025
Owen Gleiberman, Variety, 10 Sep. 2025
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.
—Uriel Kon
september 2, Literary Hub, 2 Sep. 2025
Verb
More support tickets, more quibbling, more negotiating.
—Jodie Cook, Forbes.com, 25 Aug. 2025
Noun
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.
—Owen Gleiberman, Variety, 10 Sep. 2025
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.
—Uriel Kon
september 2, Literary Hub, 2 Sep. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for quibbling
Verb
-
Dani has fallen asleep, though only after complaining vociferously about the light.—
David Wingrave,
Harpers Magazine,
24 Oct. 2025
-
Lyons said store owners had been complaining about the retail for some time.—
Luke Barr,
ABC News,
22 Oct. 2025
Verb
-
Jennifer Aniston’s Alex Levy, Reese Witherspoon’s Bradley Jackson, and the other members of The Morning Show’s newsroom and its network are once again bickering and backstabbing.—
Emma Alpern,
Vulture,
11 Sep. 2025
-
Coaches are also bickering about money, a topic that would have felt out of place 10 years ago.—
Eben Novy-Williams,
Sportico.com,
5 Sep. 2025
Noun
-
One cultural role of child stars, after all, is to embody for their moment the ambiguities of approaching adolescence.—
Adam Gopnik,
New Yorker,
20 Oct. 2025
-
There was less ambiguity in Minnesota; Rodgers was signed with the clear intention to start.—
Zach Berman,
New York Times,
17 Oct. 2025
Verb
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Ultimately, though, Braun’s priority through all the number-nitpicking negotiations was to stay in Denver.—
Bennett Durando,
Denver Post,
21 Oct. 2025
-
Just keep an eye on the run defense In a dominating win like Sunday’s, looking for any negatives is nitpicking, but the Cowboys’ run defense struggles are worth highlighting.—
Nick Harris,
Fort Worth Star-Telegram,
5 Oct. 2025
Verb
-
While Spanish chroniclers numbered the population around the time of European contact to have been 1 million, anthropologists have disputed this, arguing instead for the population to have been 6–12 million.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
23 Oct. 2025
-
Republicans have been arguing for a budget extension before negotiating on the credits.—
Nick Coltrain,
Denver Post,
23 Oct. 2025
Adjective
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Featuring a subtle kick flare at the hem and chic pintuck detailing, they’re designed to hit right under the calf, or just at the ankle for petite people like myself.—
Sophie Dodd,
Travel + Leisure,
26 Oct. 2025
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Adding parsnips and turnips to the recipe gives the dish a subtle earthy flavor that perfectly complements the savory chicken.—
Sarah Martens,
Better Homes & Gardens,
25 Oct. 2025
Noun
-
Eliza Varadi, a pediatrician in South Carolina, told me that the murkiness around insurance coverage, coupled with lower demand, has prompted her practice to start ordering COVID vaccines just one box at a time—each a batch of 10 doses—to minimize the potential for loss.—
Katherine J. Wu,
The Atlantic,
3 Oct. 2025
-
The vessel was operating in international waters but that added to the murkiness of the legal justification.—
Emily Goodin,
Miami Herald,
5 Sep. 2025
Verb
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With five blades sandwiched between two moisturizing bars, this razor speeds up the entire process (no fussing around with shaving cream), nourishing dry skin and making nicks a rare occurrence.—
Sophia Panych,
Allure,
16 Sep. 2025
-
This was the mid 1980s and tandem skydiving hadn’t been popularized yet, so his father, Roger, adjusted accordingly by stuffing carpet padding into the leg pads to stop him from fussing.—
Angelina Liu,
People.com,
2 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Quibbling.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/quibbling. Accessed 28 Oct. 2025.
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