QUIBBLE • E-FREE TRANSLATION.COM • Definition of Quibble

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/kwˈɪbəl/ Listen

Quibble

noun

An evasion of the point of an argument by raising irrelevant distinctions or objections. Synonyms: cavil, quiddity.

verb

(past & past part. quibbled; pres. part. quibbling)

Evade the truth of a point or question by raising irrelevant objections.

Argue over petty things. Synonyms: bicker, brabble, niggle, pettifog, squabble.

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Etymology of 'Quibble'

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"Quibble" Quotes from Famous Books

... taken in guarded litters to the sea- coast and shipped to Ireland or to Cadiz, Valencia, Alexandria or Morocco with no difficulty whatever unless some one got wind of the fact. As for the Irish King, a man who had the sort of record he had, was not likely to quibble over the means used by Biterres in getting himself a bride. And before the captives within the castle could reach even the nearest of their friends and bring help, the whole troop would ...

— Masters of the Guild • L. Lamprey

... saved that day. It flashed across even his obscene mentality that he might suggest once too often contempt for Western folk who worked for Eastern potentates. It was true he regarded the difference between a contract and direct employment as merely a question of degree, and a quibble in any case, and he felt pretty sure that the Blaines would not risk the maharajah's unchancy friendship by dismissing himself; but he suspected there were limits. He could not imagine why, but he had noticed that insolence to Blaine himself ...

— Guns of the Gods • Talbot Mundy

... Aurelius' request, by Alexander to the Roman army on the Danube during the war with the Marcomanni, declaring that victory would follow on the throwing of two lions alive into the river. The result was a great disaster, and Alexander had recourse to the old quibble of the Delphic oracle to Croesus for an explanation. Lucian's own close investigations into Alexander's methods of fraud led to a serious attempt on his life. The whole account gives a graphic description ...

— Project Gutenberg Encyclopedia

... Governments'.[76] But, if it was not the principle that was objected to, but only the form, where are we? We can do nothing else but assume that the German Government objected to the terms employed by Sir Edward Grey, and that for the sake of a mere quibble they wasted time until other events made the catastrophe inevitable. Impartiality will have to judge whether such action was deliberate or not; whether in this case also it is crime or folly which has to be laid at the ...

— Why We Are At War (2nd Edition, revised) • Members of the Oxford Faculty of Modern History

... purchase. I asked six pounds for her, and he gave me six pounds.' 'Six flints you mean,' said I; 'no, no, the law is not quite so bad as that either; I know something about her, and am sure that she will never sanction such a quibble. At all events, I'll ride after the fellow.' Thereupon turning the horse round, I put him to his very best trot; I rode nearly a mile without obtaining a glimpse of the fellow, and was becoming apprehensive that he had escaped me by turning down some by-path, two or three of which ...

— The Romany Rye - A Sequel to 'Lavengro' • George Borrow

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