'Niggling' definitions:
Definition of 'niggling'
(from WordNet)
adjective
(informal) small and of little importance; "a fiddling sum of money"; "a footling gesture"; "our worries are lilliputian compared with those of countries that are at war"; "a little (or small) matter"; "a dispute over niggling details"; "limited to petty enterprises"; "piffling efforts"; "giving a police officer a free meal may be against the law, but it seems to be a picayune infraction" [syn: fiddling, footling, lilliputian, little, niggling, piddling, piffling, petty, picayune, trivial]
Definition of 'Niggling'
From: GCIDE
- Niggling \Nig"gling\, a.
- 1. petty, trivial, or inconsequential. [PJC]
- 2. Excessively demanding of time or attention; as, niggling little details. [PJC]
Definition of 'Niggling'
From: GCIDE
- Niggle \Nig"gle\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Niggled; p. pr. & vb. n. Niggling.] [Dim. of Prov. E. nig to clip money; cf. also Prov. E. nig a small piece.] To trifle with; to deceive; to mock. [Obs.] --Beau. & Fl. [1913 Webster]
Definition of 'niggling'
From: GCIDE
- niggling \nig"gling\, n. Finicky or pottering work; specif. (Fine Arts), Minute and very careful workmanship in drawing, painting, or the like, esp. when bestowed on unimportant detail. [Webster 1913 Suppl.]
Synonyms of 'niggling'
From: Moby Thesaurus
- adverse criticism,
- advertent,
- agog,
- alert,
- all ears,
- all eyes,
- animadversion,
- annoying,
- aspersion,
- assiduous,
- attentive,
- aware,
- bad notices,
- bad press,
- captious,
- captiousness,
- careful,
- carping,
- cavil,
- caviling,
- censoriousness,
- concentrated,
- conscious,
- critical,
- criticism,
- cynical,
- diligent,
- earnest,
- exception,
- faultfinding,
- finical,
- finicking,
- finicky,
- flak,
- frivolous,
- fussy,
- hairsplitting,
- heedful,
- hit,
- home thrust,
- hostile criticism,
- hypercritical,
- hypercriticalness,
- hypercriticism,
- imputation,
- inconsequential,
- insignificant,
- intense,
- intent,
- intentive,
- irksome,
- irritating,
- jerkwater,
- knock,
- measly,
- meticulous,
- Mickey Mouse,
- mindful,
- nagging,
- nice,
- niggle,
- nit,
- nit-picking,
- nugatory,
- obloquy,
- observant,
- observing,
- on the ball,
- on the job,
- one-horse,
- open-eared,
- open-eyed,
- openmouthed,
- overcritical,
- overcriticalness,
- paltry,
- peanut,
- pestering,
- pettifogging,
- petty,
- picayune,
- picayunish,
- piddling,
- piffling,
- poky,
- priggishness,
- punk,
- puny,
- quibble,
- quibbling,
- rap,
- reflection,
- regardful,
- reproachfulness,
- slam,
- small-beer,
- small-time,
- stricture,
- swipe,
- taking exception,
- tinhorn,
- trichoschistic,
- trichoschistism,
- trifling,
- trivial,
- troublesome,
- two-bit,
- two-by-four,
- ultracritical,
- unimportant,
- vexatious,
- vexing,
- watchful,
- worrisome,
- worrying