From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Carp \Carp\ (k[aum]rp), verb (used without an object) [imp. & p. p. {Carped} (k[aum]rpt); p. pr. & vb. n. {Carping}.] [OE. carpen to say, speak; from Scand. (cf. Icel. karpa to boast), but influenced later by L. carpere to pluck, calumniate.]
1. To talk; to speak; to prattle. [Obs.] --Chaucer.
2. To find fault; to cavil; to censure words or actions without reason or ill-naturedly; -- usually followed by at.
Carping and caviling at faults of manner. --Blackw. Mag.
And at my actions carp or catch. --Herbert.
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Carping \Carp"ing\ (k[aum]rp"[i^]ng), adjective Fault-finding; censorious caviling. See {Captious}. -- {Carp"ing*ly}, adverb ||
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
adjective
1: 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" [syn: {caviling}, {nitpicking}, {pettifogging}, {quibbling}]
noun
1: persistent petty and unjustified criticism [syn: {faultfinding}]
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
57 Moby Thesaurus words for "carping": adverse criticism, animadversion, aspersion, bad notices, bad press, blameful, captious, captiousness, cavil, caviling, censorious, censoriousness, condemnatory, critical, criticism, cynical, damnatory, exception, faultfinding, flak, hairsplitting, hit, home thrust, hostile criticism, hypercritical, hypercriticalness, hypercriticism, imputation, jawing, knock, nagging, niggle, niggling, nit, nit-picking, objurgatory, obloquy, overcritical, overcriticalness, pestering, pettifogging, priggishness, quibble, quibbling, railing, rap, reflection, reproachful, reproachfulness, slam, stricture, swipe, taking exception, trichoschistic, trichoschistism, ultracritical, upbraiding
Define.com is a registered nonprofit corporation dedicated solely to the global public interest and the advancement of humanity. It belongs to all of us who have a desire to promote electronic democracy, science, creativity, imagination, reason, critical thinking, peace, race and gender equality, civil rights, equal access to education, personal liberty, free speech, animal rights, compassionate and nonviolent parenting, social and economic justice, global monetary reform, Secular Humanism, cognitive liberty and a permanent cessation of The War on Drugs.
Let's see what we can do if we put our heads together.
0