- (intransitive; followed by at or about) to raise annoying petty objections; quibble; carp
- a captious trifling objection
WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2026
cav•il /ˈkævəl/USA pronunciation
v., -iled, -il•ing or (esp. Brit.) -illed, -il•ling, n.
v. [no object;
(~ + at/about + object)]
n. [countable]
WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2026v. [no object;
(~ + at/about + object)]
- to raise unimportant objections:Let's not cavil at details now; we are in agreement.
n. [countable]
- an unimportant objection:She raised a few cavils just to show resistance.
cav•il
(kav′əl),USA pronunciation v., -iled, -il•ing or (esp. Brit.) -illed, -il•ling, n.
v.i.
v.t.
n.
cav′il•er;
[esp. Brit.,] cav′il•ler, n.
cav′il•ing•ly;
[esp. Brit.,] cav′il•ling•ly, adv.
v.i.
- to raise irritating and trivial objections;
find fault with unnecessarily (usually fol. by at or about):He finds something to cavil at in everything I say.
v.t.
- to oppose by inconsequential, frivolous, or sham objections:to cavil each item of a proposed agenda.
n.
- a trivial and annoying objection.
- the raising of such objections.
- Latin cavillārī to jeer, scoff, quibble, verb, verbal derivative of cavilla jesting, banter
- 1540–50
[esp. Brit.,] cav′il•ler, n.
cav′il•ing•ly;
[esp. Brit.,] cav′il•ling•ly, adv.
- 1. carp, complain, criticize.
Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::
cavil /ˈkævɪl/ vb ( -ils, -illing, -illed) ( US -ils, -iling, -iled)
'cavilling' also found in these entries (note: many are not synonyms or translations):