cavil means A petty or trivial objection or criticism. It carries an Arena rating of 1814, earned across 33 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, cavil ranks #873 of 17,126 for Most Elegant Words, #1,574 of 17,132 for Most Betrayed by Its Sound, #1,955 of 17,127 for Words That Escaped Their Books, #2,227 of 17,134 for Most Malleable Words.
cavil is pronounced /ˈkæv.əl/.
Why “cavil” is a great word
CAVIL — [Noun/Verb] A petty or trivial objection, or the act of raising one. From Old French caviller (“mock, jest, rail”), from Latin cavillor (“jeer, mock, reason captiously”), from cavilla (“jeering, scoffing”). First recorded in English in the 1540s. Unlike “criticize,” which can denote substantive judgment, or “quibble,” which often implies evasive wordplay, to cavil is to nitpick with an air of irritable, fault-finding superiority. It is the pedant’s correction of a comma in a heartfelt letter, the bureaucrat’s rejection of a form for a margin’s width, or the muttered amendment of a minor date during a eulogy—the small, sharp tool of those who would rather be right than be connected.
Etymology
From Old French caviller (“mock, jest, rail”), from Latin cavillor (“jeer, mock, satirise, reason captiously”), from cavilla (“jeering, raillery, scoffing”); cognate with Italian cavillare, Portuguese cavillar, and Spanish cavilar; nominal usage developed within English from the original verbal usage.
noun
- A petty or trivial objection or criticism.e.g.“It is not worth while to spend your time in arguing against a cavil, but make him feel he is committing a sin to plead it, and thus enlist his conscience on your side.” — 1835, Charles G. Finney, Lectures on revivals of religion:
verb
- To criticise for petty or frivolous reasons.e.g.“'Tis love you cavil at: I am not Love.” — c. 1590–1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Two Gentlemen of Verona”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward]
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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