cavil

This cavil has no bearing on the outcome of the case.

From Slate ● Feb. 20, 2019

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

It is a risky business turning a near-perfect thing into a somewhat less-perfect thing, but it feels churlish to cavil about so much hard work done in a celebratory spirit.

From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 18, 2017

The committee awarded Livingston his doctorate without cavil.

From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik

And yet ... as Gray wrote in her review, “None of these cavils stopped me from standing up and cheering, with tears in my eyes, for ‘Last Dance.’”

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 16, 2019

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

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 28, 2018

Yet despite numerous cavils, “The Aeneid” still fuels modern imaginations.

From Washington Post ● Sep. 12, 2017

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

To illustrate this position, and clear it of sceptical cavils and objections, is the main object of the present chapter.

From A Theodicy, or, Vindication of the Divine Glory by Albert Taylor Bledsoe

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

No one has caviled that Hughes, who was too young for combat in World War I and too old for combat in World War II, should have chosen to write about both.

From Time Magazine Archive

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

At the white cashmere robe alone he caviled.

From The Baronet's Bride by May Agnes Fleming

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

In this early attempt to cultivate “the vulgar tongue,” 272 some cavilled at his strange terms.

From Amenities of Literature Consisting of Sketches and Characters of English Literature by Isaac Disraeli

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 John Charles Dent

What artist would want to tap into the flow of my caviling thoughts in the middle of a performance?

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 18, 2022

Someone better warn these caviling critics about Hamlet.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 13, 2021

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

Henrik Lundqvist: Early-season concern over a handful of spotty games and caviling over the occasional soft goal were, and continue to be, overreactions.

From New York Times ● Feb. 1, 2011

They began to lay the foundation for caviling at the legality of that body, if its measures should be hostile to them.

From Memoir, Correspondence, And Miscellanies, From The Papers Of Thomas Jefferson, Volume 2 by Thomas Jefferson Randolph

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