Meanings
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1
noun
a person who raises trivial, captious, or unreasonable objections
The persistent caviler objected to every harmless detail of the proposal.
Thesaurus
Etymology
Formed from cavil + -er. Cavil comes through French and Latin cavillari, 'to jest or raise frivolous objections,' from cavilla, 'raillery.' The alternative spelling caviller preserves the doubled consonant used in British inflection.