1
as in complained
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 bickered
to express different opinions about something often angrily
don't quibble over who gets to sit in front
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of quibbled
Those specific numbers can obviously be quibbled with.
—
Aaron Gleeman, New York Times, 1 Oct. 2025
That trove included more than 300 black-and-white photographs, shared via JSTOR, which capture both Lulu the woman and Lulu the clown, though Lulu would have quibbled with the distinction.
—April White, JSTOR Daily, 18 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for quibbled
Verb
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There was little pushback from industry leaders or consumer advocates on Tuesday even though towing representatives had previously complained that the changes would add costs and consumer lawyers had objected that the recommendations didn’t go far enough to protect drivers.—
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But monks there complained that the slain king was walking around at night, frightening them with strange sounds.—
Verb
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On 33 occasions since 2017, Congress has been forced to pass emergency extensions to the flood insurance program, as lawmakers bickered over budgets and looming shutdowns threatened to disrupt it, according to a letter the National Association of Realtors sent to Congress ahead of the shutdown.—
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In recent years, the companies have bickered about the rise of streaming services, in which the media companies are investing billions of dollars and which lure away cable and satellite customers.—
Verb
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Dunst doesn’t get fussed about that sort of thing.—
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Others might tell you that hosting an awards show is a thankless gig, but Bargatze doesn’t seem fussed.—
Verb
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But the department has argued the sheer volume of documents that need to be found, uploaded, reviewed, redacted and published has forced it to instead release the files online on a rolling basis, with a series of enormous document dumps over the course of several days in mid-December.—
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Skelton argued that the city’s code lays out a specific process for declaring an animal as dangerous, which often entails a day in municipal court.—
Verb
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Strapped to a stretcher in the back of an ambulance, the shooting victim moaned, then screamed.—
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From the other room, the victim moaned.—
Verb
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For the past seven months, SDC has quarreled with state officials and lawmakers over its community action agency title.—
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Rhoden's biggest political victory this year was getting the state Legislature to sign off on a $650 million plan in September to replace the 141-year-old state penitentiary, an issue the Legislature had quarreled over for years.—
Verb
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As for one consistent complaint heard muttered amid bleary-eyed guests of the former Standard, Schrager confirms the appropriate adjustments have been made.—
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But the other 3%, often muttered by students prospectively examining transfer applications, is distinct.—
Verb
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Firefighters fought the fire both inside and outside the house, and additional firefighters went inside to search for people.—
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And neither do the AI-skeptics who fought the hardest for it.—
Cite this Entry
“Quibbled.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/quibbled. Accessed 12 Jan. 2026.
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