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Niggling   Listen
noun
niggling  n.  Finicky or pottering work; specif. (Fine Arts), Minute and very careful workmanship in drawing, painting, or the like, esp. when bestowed on unimportant detail.


verb
Niggle  v. t.  (past & past part. niggled; pres. part. niggling)  To trifle with; to deceive; to mock. (Obs.)


Niggle  v. t.  
1.
To use, spend, or do in a petty or trifling manner.
2.
To elaborate excessively, as in art.


Niggle  v. i.  
1.
To trifle or play. "Take heed, daughter, You niggle not with your conscience and religion."
2.
To act or walk mincingly. (Prov. Eng.)
3.
To fret and snarl about trifles. (Prov. Eng.)
4.
(Chiefly Eng.) To move about restlessly or without result; to fidget.
5.
To be finicky or excessively critical; to potter; esp., to work with excessive care for trifling details, as in painting.


adjective
Niggling  adj.  
1.
Petty, trivial, or inconsequential.
2.
Excessively demanding of time or attention; as, niggling little details.





Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48


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"Niggling" Quotes from Famous Books



... to the second great danger to our modern civilisation, and that is War. We have over-developed war. While we have left our peace organisation to the niggling, slow, self-seeking methods of private enterprise; while we have left the breeding of our peoples to chance, their minds to the halfpenny press and their wealth to the drug manufacturer, we have pushed forward ...
— An Englishman Looks at the World • H. G. Wells
... of going on as he should, and widening his purse to the number of the mouths, was niggling at them always for offense or excuse, to take away what little he allowed them. The Captain had his pay, which would go in one hand, and the lady had a little money of her own; but still it was cruel for brought-up people to have nothing better to go on with. Not that the old lord was a ...
— Erema - My Father's Sin • R. D. Blackmore
... Look at the curls and curves whereby this people conventionally signify wave or cloud. All these curls have an attitude which is like that of a figure slightly malformed, and not like that of a human body that is perfect, dominant, and if bent, bent at no lowly or niggling labour. Why these curves should be so charming it would be hard to say; they have an exquisite prankishness of variety, the place where the upward or downward scrolls curl off from the main wave is delicately unexpected ...
— The Colour of Life • Alice Meynell


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