cavil

They talk a lot about how something must be done about inequality and the need to address social unrest, but cavil at the idea they might be a big part of the problem.

From The Guardian ● Feb. 1, 2019

I wished the corn had been grilled rather than boiled, but that’s a cavil since I consumed two of three ears.

From Seattle Times ● Aug. 30, 2018

Copyright holders may cavil, but it's just such dedication that can make an old canceled show seem like a new good bet.

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 16, 2018

Surely there are superb teachers who carp at every pile of homework to be corrected, or successful contractors who cavil at every check-out line at Home Depot.

From Slate ● Nov. 12, 2013

The committee awarded Livingston his doctorate without cavil.

From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik

This proposal generated cavils in the chattering classes that it would drive home prices up to absorb the $25,000 grant, putatively keeping homes out of the reach of the beneficiaries.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 20, 2024

The short answer to these cavils is that such hand-wringing is simply not a part of Brooks’s sunny disposition.

From Washington Post ● Dec. 9, 2021

Don’t be put off by these cavils, though.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 28, 2018

Indeed, more than once they have drawn criticism for burying their fundamental message - that society is running some huge risks -- in caveats and cavils.

From New York Times ● Jan. 15, 2013

Had Mr. Macaulay flourished then, he would have had readier listeners to these cavils, than he has at present.

From Dealings with the Dead, Volume I (of 2) by School, A Sexton of the Old

Prospective investors had caviled at “the benevolence of Starbucks management”, he said, which gave all employees health insurance and stock options; they wanted the money spent on investor returns.

From The Guardian ● Aug. 30, 2017

Indeed, some U.S. policymakers caviled at Thant's plan.

From Time Magazine Archive

Meanwhile, the FCC caviled about the frequencies he wanted to use.

From Time Magazine Archive

Critics caviled in this case because cub reporters do not write editorials under their signatures on the front pages.

From Time Magazine Archive

I cannot give a full account of their arguments on both sides; only this I remember, that they caviled very much with one another.

From History of the Plague in London by Defoe, Daniel

This lack of a central authority is one of the reasons why Dimon cavilled in such strong terms last week.

From The Guardian ● Sep. 17, 2017

Critics cavilled, questioned the veracity of many incidents, doubted this man had experienced them all.

From Time Magazine Archive

Critics cavilled slightly at his tendency to inject cosmic significance into his characters' activities.

From Time Magazine Archive

They cavilled with the baker on the colour of his bread; they made the grocer their enemy by maintaining that he adulterated his chocolate.

From Bouvard and Pécuchet A Tragi-comic Novel of Bourgeois Life by Flaubert, Gustave

I am aware," he wrote, "that the answer may be cavilled at in Downing Street, for I know it is not exactly according to Hoyle.

From The Story of the Upper Canada Rebellion by Dent, John Charles

So what was I caviling about to myself during intermission?

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 31, 2025

Someone better warn these caviling critics about Hamlet.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 13, 2021

“Why do you wear that stuff?” she was asked, a question that has passed between many a caviling mother and obdurate teenage daughter.

From New York Times ● Jun. 21, 2016

It would come off as cheeky caviling to basically say, “I don’t like the way you defended me and my property from a criminal.”

From Slate ● Mar. 31, 2016

We can stop, therefore, neither in perpetual adoration of nor perpetual caviling at the past.

From Human Traits and their Social Significance by Edman, Irwin

One reading of “The Shroud of Color” should be enough to convince the most cavilling reader.

From New York Times ● Oct. 21, 2021

In the last month, the drip of doubtful decisions and cavilling explanations has become relentless.

From The New Yorker ● Aug. 12, 2018

But it's Guineas weekend, a good time to celebrate the summer game rather than cavilling.

From The Guardian ● Apr. 30, 2010

Whereupon police, who had been listening, courteously hustled cavilling Major Franco and his huddle to jail for overnight detention.

From Time Magazine Archive

None, that is, worthy of anything but cavilling mention.

From "Nine Stories" by J. D. Salinger