Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- intransitive verb To be concerned with or find fault with insignificant details. synonym: quibble.
- intransitive verb To criticize or find fault with (someone or something) in a petty way.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- verb To
correct minutiae or findfault in unimportantdetails ; tokvetch . - verb archaic To pick
nits -lice eggs - from someone’shair .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- verb be overly critical; criticize minor details
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
From nit + pick, originally referring to literally removing invisibly-tiny louse eggs by hand.
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Examples
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johnmperry commented on the word nitpick
to look for nits
June 20, 2008