Caviling

Caviling refers to the act of raising petty or trivial objections, often with the intention of finding fault unnecessarily. It involves making captious criticisms about unimportant details, demonstrating a hypercritical or nitpicking attitude. Someone who is caviling focuses on minor flaws rather than the overall merit or substance of something, often to an annoying or obstructive degree. The behavior suggests a tendency to be argumentative and to find fault for the sake of finding fault, rather than for genuine improvement or constructive feedback. It can be driven by negativity, pedantry, or simply a desire to demonstrate superiority.

Caviling meaning with examples

• Instead of appreciating the effort put into the presentation, the manager was constantly caviling about minor formatting issues, which ultimately discouraged the team from sharing their ideas freely.
• The editor's caviling over every comma and hyphen in the manuscript, while technically precise, significantly delayed the publication and frustrated the author.
• During the planning meeting, John was caviling about the color of the tablecloths and the font used on the invitations, completely ignoring the more significant logistical concerns.
• Stop caviling about the size of the font; the content is correct and clear, which is more important than whether it is exactly 12 or 14 point.