cavil
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
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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
Among its cavils are that the AI-produced images have flaws that would have been caught by human animators, and also that Coke hasn’t accommodated “its customers’ aversion to AI.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 5, 2025
For all the cavils about cookie-cutter proposals, there was a refreshing diversity in the social-media pitches of the candidates.
From New York Times ● Jul. 11, 2022
Still, setting aside any minor cavils, you will certainly enjoy “Presto and Zesto in Limboland” and, if it doesn’t seem too static or just plain weird, so will your children.
From Washington Post ● Sep. 4, 2018
Don’t be put off by these cavils, though.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 28, 2018
For there were jealous people everywhere; envy stalks rampant through the world; failure cavils at mediocrity, mediocrity sneers at genius.
From The Trail to Yesterday by Seltzer, Charles Alden
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
These symptoms of state and ceremony, as we have hinted, were much caviled at by the thinking, and talking, part of the community.
From Knickerbocker's History of New York, Complete by Irving, Washington
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 slightly at his tendency to inject cosmic significance into his characters' activities.
From Time Magazine Archive
Critics cavilled, questioned the veracity of many incidents, doubted this man had experienced them all.
From Time Magazine Archive
Mr Fox, in the course of the negotiations of the definitive treaty, has cavilled on every point, and raised difficulties and delays on every occasion.
From The Diplomatic Correspondence of the American Revolution, Vol. IX by Sparks, Jared
This inconsiderate partiality of the softer sex might be cavilled at, but to Chittaranjan it did not seem unpleasant.
From Mashi and Other Stories by Tagore, Rabindranath
So what was I caviling about to myself during intermission?
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 31, 2025
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
“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
There will be no caviling at the satisfying antiquity of Fuenterrabia.
From A Midsummer Drive Through the Pyrenees by Dix, Edwin Asa
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
Vocabulary lists containing cavil
Walden
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Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
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Tolkien Reading Day, List 11
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