quibble

English

WOTD – 11 March 2012    

Etymology

Quibble comes from a diminutive form of the Latin pronoun quibus, which appeared frequently in legal documents.

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈkwɪbəl/
• Rhymes: -ɪbəl

Noun

quibble (plural quibbles)

1. A trivial or minor complaint, objection or argument.

   I have a quibble with the management practice of declaring everything urgent.

Synonyms

• See Wikisaurus:dispute

Translations

a trivial or minor complaint, objection or argument

• Finnish: marina (fi), narina (fi), kitinä (fi), mutina (fi) (complaint); suukopu (fi), kränä (fi) (argument)
• French: argutie (fr) f
• German: kleinliche Kritik (de) f, Spitzfindigkeit (de) f, Haarspalterei (de) f

• Portuguese: minúcia (pt) f
• Russian: придирка (ru) (pridírka) f
• Serbo-Croatian: cepidlačenje (sh)
• Spanish: sutileza f, argucia f

Verb

quibble (third-person singular simple present quibbles, present participle quibbling, simple past and past participle quibbled)

1. (intransitive) To complain or argue in a trivial or petty manner.

   They are constantly quibbling over insignificant details.

Synonyms

• See Wikisaurus:squabble

Translations

to complain or argue in a trivial or petty manner

• Esperanto: ĉikani (eo)
• Finnish: marista (fi), narista (fi), kitistä (fi)
• French: chicaner (fr), ergoter (fr), chinoiser (fr), chipoter (fr), pinailler (fr)
• German: herumstreiten, kleinlich sein
• Latin: cavillari

• Portuguese: preocupar-se, preocupar-se com minúcias, discutir (pt)
• Russian: придираться (ru) (pridirátʹsja)
• Serbo-Croatian: cepidlačiti (sh)
• Spanish: buscar evasivas, sutilizar, andar con sutilezas