niggle
1. argue over petty things
- Let's not quibble over pennies
• Syn:
quibble, pettifog, bicker, squabble, brabble
• Derivationally related forms:
squabble (for: squabble), bicker (for: bicker), pettifogger (for: pettifog), pettifoggery (for: pettifog), niggler, quibbler (for: quibble)
• Hypernyms:
argue, contend, debate, fence
• Verb Frames:
- Somebody ----s
- Somebody ----s PP
2. worry unnecessarily or excessively
- don't fuss too much over the grandchildren--they are quite big now
• Syn:
fuss, fret
• Derivationally related forms:
fret (for: fret), fuss (for: fuss)
• Hypernyms:
worry
• Hyponyms:
scruple, dither, flap, pother
• Verb Frames:
- Somebody ----s
- Somebody ----s PP
- Sam and Sue niggle over the results of the experiment
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