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Disposed to cavil; finding fault without good reason. See Captious. His depreciatory and caviling criticism. Lewis.

In a caviling manner.

Caviling; subtle disputation. [Obs.]

A caviling; a sophism. [Obs.] This doctrine is for caption and contradiction. Bacon.

words or actions without reason or ill-naturedly; -- usually followed by at. Carping and caviling at faults of manner. Blackw. Mag. And at my actions carp or catch. Herbert.

Fault-finding; censorious caviling. See Captious. -- Carp"ing*ly, adv.

Characterized by caviling, or disposed to cavil; quibbing. [R.] -- Cav"il*ous*ly, adv. [R.] -- Cav"il*ous*ness, n. [R.]

of a case or question; -- specifically applied to legal proceedings; trickery; chicanery; caviling; sophistry. Prior. To shuffle from them by chicane. Burke. To cut short this, I propound it fairly to your own canscience. Berkeley.

ernment, or of being authorized by its provisions. Burke. Constitutionalities, bottomless cavilings and questionings about written laws. Carlyle.

Cavillation; a caviling. [Obs.] Cranmer.

who makes excessively nice or needless distinctions in reasoning; one who quibbles. "The caviling hairsplitter." De Quincey.

To evade the point in question by artifice, play upon words, caviling, or by raising any insignificant or impertinent question or point; to trifle in argument or discourse; to equivocate.