1
as in to complain
to make often peevish criticisms or objections about matters that are minor, unimportant, or irrelevant
he spent the entire evening quibbling about the historical inaccuracies in the television series on World War II
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in to argue
to express different opinions about something often angrily
don't quibble over who gets to sit in front
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
as in objection
Related Words
Dissimilar Words
Example Sentences
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
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Recent Examples of quibble
Rob Pegoraro, PC Magazine, 9 Sep. 2025
When the murder of 100,000 people, many of them women and children, is mentioned or denounced, or when someone dares to use terms such as genocide, ethnocide, ethnic cleansing or similar, most people choose to take issue with the characterization, quibbling over semantics.
—Uriel Kon
september 2, Literary Hub, 2 Sep. 2025
Kate Erbland, IndieWire, 18 Nov. 2025
My only quibble is that no working professional in recorded history has ever gone home for the Fourth of July.
—Emma Specter, Vogue, 12 Nov. 2025
See All Example Sentences for quibble
Verb
Again, our reviewers could quibble with that ranking, as no Samsung sets appear in our best TVs list.
—Noun
The same quibbles, but just writ larger (and, yes, longer).
—Recent Examples of Synonyms for quibble
Verb
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Later, the state spent $6 million to seal the brick building, after state workers complained of respiratory ailments and asthma.—
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Although older drivers are certainly more sensitive to nocturnal blasts of light, drivers in their 20s and 30s also complained about the overall brightness of some vehicles.—
Verb
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The conviction was later vacated in 2016, after a new legal team argued that Max’s original trial lawyer had a conflict of interest in the case.—
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Schumer on Saturday persisted in arguing that Republicans should accept a one-year extension of the subsidies before negotiating the future of the tax credits.—
Noun
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At a City Hall news conference, the mayor responded to a question about retroactive changes to the 2026 budget, which aldermen passed over his objections last month, by reiterating the package could force personnel cuts.—
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During the certification process, members of Congress have the opportunity to object to a state’s results, which triggers debate and then a vote about whether the objection is to be upheld.—
Verb
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Try not to nitpick yourself or others… peace beats perfection.—
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Meanwhile, nitpicking from Stewart is always welcome.—
Verb
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Someone on the bench started bickering with Cameroon’s first goalscorer, Junior Tchamadeu, during a break in play.—
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The Federal Reserve chair and the president stood stiffly, side by side, in matching hard hats, bickering on a building site, for all the world to see.—
Verb
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Need to put a filling dinner on the table, but don't have a lot of time to fuss?—
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Dunst doesn’t get fussed about that sort of thing.—
Verb
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Barton gave the jury the impression of a man prepared to go into daily combat on numerous fronts, constantly fighting one battle after another, in service of his principles.—
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Players fought, fought, fought, gave us every chance in the world.—
Noun
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Trump has repeatedly expressed support for the protest movement and called for an end to Iran’s Islamist regime, which has long been adversarial to the US.—
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Iran’s crackdown on nationwide protests continued Sunday, with reports of mass killings as demonstrations spread across the country amid warnings of drone surveillance.—
Cite this Entry
“Quibble.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/quibble. Accessed 13 Jan. 2026.
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