niggle

Estimated CEFR level: C2 — Proficiency

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

verb worry unnecessarily or excessively
verb argue over petty things

Etymology

First attested in 1599. Origin uncertain, but likely borrowed from dialectal Norwegian nigla (“to be stingy, to busy oneself with trifles”), ultimately from Old Norse hnøggr (“stingy; miserly”), related to Old English hnēaw (“stingy; niggardly”). More at niggard.

In classic literature

No niggling attempts to make ends meet. — The Blue Castle: a novel, L. M. (Lucy Maud) Montgomery
Here the modeller works on the floor seated on his heels; he runs up acanthus leaves, geometric designs, or groups of figures and animals with a rapidity that would give our niggling Academy teachers at home considerable food for thought--and yet the work is fine, and the figures are full of expression. — From Edinburgh to India & Burmah, W. G. (William Gordon) Burn Murdoch
At 3.30 there would come a half-hour's interval of play, and then the class of French literature from four till dinner-time at six--a class that was more than endurable on account of the liveliness and charm of Monsieur Durosier, who journeyed all the way from the College de France every Saturday afternoon in June and July to tell us boys of the quatrieme all about Villon and Ronsard, and Marot and Charles d'Orleans (exceptis excipiendis, of course), and other pleasant people who didn't deal in Greek or Latin or mathematics, and knew better than to trouble themselves overmuch about formal French grammar and niggling French prosody. — The Martian: A Novel, George Du Maurier

Synonyms

fuss, fret

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niggle

Definition

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In classic literature

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A single word — an entire dictionary opens.

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