quibbling over insignificant details; "caviling pettifoggers and quiggling pleaders"-Edmund Burke; "her nagging and carping attack"; "thought her editor unnecessarily nitpicking"; "a pettifogging lawyer's mind"; "had no patience with quibbling critics"
cav·il cavils cavilling cavilled in AM, use caviling, caviled disapproval If you say that someone cavils at something, you mean that they make criticisms of it that you think are unimportant or unnecessary. Let us not cavil too much I don't think this is the time to cavil at the wording of the report. = quibble Cavil is also a noun. These cavils aside, most of the essays are very good indeed. to make unnecessary complaints about someone or something cavil at (cavillari , from cavilla )