noun
quibble
KWIH-buhl
noun
1
A minor, often pedantic objection or complaint about a small detail.
"His only quibble with the report was a comma in the wrong place."
"Aside from a few quibbles, the reviewers loved the design."
verb
1
To argue or complain over trivial points.
"They spent the meeting quibbling over font sizes instead of the actual content."
How to Use Quibble
Learner’s notesIn plain EnglishA small, often pointless complaint or argument over minor details.
Common mistake
A quibble is a minor gripe, not a serious dispute — save "quarrel" or "dispute" for anything with real stakes.
Common pairings
a minor quibble
quibble over details
quibble about
Word Forms
quibbled past tense, quibbles plural, quibbles singular
Study it as flashcards or scroll it in Flow — saved to your collection.
Test yourself on “quibble”
A quick quiz — meaning, synonyms & usage
→
Fill the Gap
Can you complete this real example?
His only _____ with the report was a comma in the wrong place.
Etymology
Origin unclear, but likely connected to the legal Latin word quibus ("in what respect?"), which cropped up so often in wordy legal documents that it became linked with pointless nitpicking.