niggle
/ˈnɪɡəl/
niggle noun: a minor complaint or problem.
Noun
niggle (plural niggles)
- A minor complaint or problem.
- The Olympic medal contender's back problem has been described as a "niggle" by the head coach, Charles van Commenee, but Porter's friend and former team-mate Danielle Carruthers revealed that the injury is playing on the Briton's mind.2012, Anna Kessel, “London 2012: Christian Taylor aims high as Phillips Idowu stays away”, in The Guardian
- He declared that it would take until the early New Year for all the faults and niggles to be ironed out, and that the rest of 2019 would be deemed to be a 'bedding in' period.2020 January 2, Richard Clinnick, “After some alarms, Sleeper awakens”, in Rail, page 47
- Synonyms:
- quibble, split hairs, cavil
- Small, cramped handwriting.
Verb
niggle (third-person singular simple present niggles, present participle niggling, simple past and past participle niggled)
- To trifle with; to deceive; to mock.
- I shall so feed your fierce vexation , And raise your worship ' s storms ; I shall so niggle you , And juggle you , and fiddle you , and firk youc. 1621, John Fletcher, Philip Massinger, “The Pilgrim”, in Comedies and Tragedies […], London: […] Humphrey Robinson, […], and for Humphrey Moseley […], published 1647, →OCLC, (please specify the...
- To use, spend, or do in a petty or trifling manner.
- To dwell too much on minor points or on trifling details.
- Synonyms:
- nitpick, split hairs, cavil
- To fidget, fiddle, be restless.
- To walk with short steps.
- I can see him now with his one eye closed as he came niggling along, and didn't he just give me a grandfather's blessing!1893, Fores's Sporting Notes & Sketches, page 177
niggle meaning in Urdu, Bengali, Malayalam and Kannada
niggle in Urdu
- بال کی کھال نکالنا
niggle in Bengali
- তুচ্ছ, সামান্য ব্যাপারে অভিযোগ করা, খুঁত খুঁত করা
niggle in Malayalam
- annoy, irritate, bother
- അലട്ടുക, സദാ ശല്യം ചെയ്യുക, വെറിപിടിപ്പിക്കുക, അസഹ്യപ്പെടുത്തുക, ശുണ്ഠിപിടിപ്പിക്കുക, ദേഷ്യം പിടിപ്പിക്കുക
- cavil, complain, fuss
- പരാതിപ്പെടുക, സങ്കടം പറയുക, പരിതപിക്കുക, ആവലാതിപ്പെടുക, വെറുതേ കുറ്റം പറയുക, കാര്യമില്ലാതെ വിമർശിക്കുക
- quibble, trivial, complaint
- വക്രോക്തി, കുത്തുവാക്ക്, പരിഭവം, പരിഭൂതി, പരാതി, വിമർശനം
niggle in Kannada
- ಕ್ಷುಲ್ಲಕ ವಿಚಾರ, ಸಣ್ಣ ವಿಷಯ, ಅಲ್ಪತನದಿಂದ ಟೀಕಿಸು, ತಪ್ಪುಕಂಡುಹಿಡಿ, ಕ್ಷುದ್ರ ರೀತಿಯಲ್ಲಿ ಆಕ್ಷೇಪಿಸು, ಸಣ್ಣ ಪುಟ್ಟ ಕಾಟಕೊಡು
Synonyms of niggle
Forms of niggle
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | niggles |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | niggles |
| present participle | niggling |
| past participle | niggled |
| past | niggled |
Origin of niggle
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.
Words formed from niggle
Words that rhyme with niggle
Questions about niggle
- What does niggle mean?
- Niggle means a minor complaint or problem.
- What is niggle in Urdu?
- Niggle in Urdu is بال کی کھال نکالنا. See Niggle meaning in Urdu.
- What part of speech is niggle?
- Niggle can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce niggle?
- Niggle is pronounced /ˈnɪɡəl/.
- What is the plural of niggle?
- The plural of niggle is niggles.
Words near niggle in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: niggle (page history and authors); niggle (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); niggle (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); niggle (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license); niggle (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-niggle.wav.
Cite this entry: “niggle.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/niggle. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.