From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Cavil \Cav"il\ (k[a^]v"[i^]l), verb (used without an object) [imp. & p. p. {Caviled} or {Cavilled}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Caviling} or {Cavilling}.] [L. cavillari to practice jesting, to censure, fr. cavilla bantering jests, sophistry: cf. OF. caviller.] To raise captious and frivolous objections; to find fault without good reason.
You do not well in obstinacy To cavil in the course of this contract. --Shak.
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Caviling \Cav"il*ing\, adjective Disposed to cavil; finding fault without good reason. See {Captious}.
His depreciatory and caviling criticism. --Lewis.
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: {carping}, {nitpicking}, {pettifogging}, {quibbling}]
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
20 Moby Thesaurus words for "caviling": captious, carping, censorious, contrary, critic, demanding, exacting, faultfinding, finicky, fussy, hairsplitting, hypercritical, mean, niggling, nitpicking, overcritical, perverse, petty, picky, small
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