Cavil

cavil







Y

1. 吹毛求疵

2. 無端指摘



D



–verb (used without object) 

1. to raise irritating and trivial objections; find fault with unnecessarily (usually fol. by at or about): 



He finds something to cavil [at] in [everything] I say.  



–verb (used with object) 

2. to oppose by inconsequential, frivolous, or sham objections: 



to cavil each item of a proposed agenda.  



–noun 

3. a trivial and annoying objection. 

4. the raising of such objections.  



—Synonyms 

1. carp, complain, criticize.





　　

Some will quibble and cavil that the movie is too contrived: six books, six members, six sets of problems, six, six, six (and sex, of course). Contrivance is actually part of the appeal. One of the reasons we return to Austen, Dickens, Trollope and the estimable Mrs. Gaskell is that their novels are contrived. 





cavil (unnecessarily) 

quibble 

prevaricate (mislead)

equivocate (ambiguous to mislead)





frivolous 

sham



haggle bargain, mangle



finicky 

persnickety (snobbish) 

fastidious (painstaking) 



indict (of a grand jury) to bring a formal accusation against

recrimination countercharge

refute to prove to be erroneous, rebut & confute ...I refute the accusation that

castigate to reprimand severely, punish ...castigating him as a "narcissistic" part of the human anatomy