[1] : The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48

niggling \nig"gling\, a.
   1. petty, trivial, or inconsequential.
      pjc

   2. excessively demanding of time or attention; as, niggling
      little details.
      pjc

[2] : The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48

niggling \nig"gling\, n.
   finicky or pottering work; specif. fine arts, minute and
   very careful workmanship in drawing, painting, or the like,
   esp. when bestowed on unimportant detail.
   webster 1913 suppl.

[3] : The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48

niggle \nig"gle\, v. t. imp.  p. p. niggled; p. pr.  vb. n.
   niggling. dim. of prov. e. nig to clip money; cf. also
   prov. e. nig a small piece.
   to trifle with; to deceive; to mock. obs. --beau.  fl.
   1913 webster
see also:
niggled niggling 

[4] : WordNet (r) 2.0

niggling
     adj : informal terms small and of little importance; "a fiddling
           sum of money"; "a footling gesture"; "our worries are
           lilliputian compared with those of countries that are
           at war"; "a little or small matter"; "mickey mouse
           regulations"; "a dispute over niggling details";
           "limited to petty enterprises"; "piffling efforts";
           "giving a police officer a free meal may be against the
           law, but it seems to be a picayune infraction" syn: fiddling,
            footling, lilliputian, little, mickey mouse, piddling,
            piffling, petty, picayune, trivial
see also:
fiddling footling lilliputian little mickey mouse piddling 
piffling petty picayune trivial 

[5] : Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0

115 moby thesaurus words for "niggling":
   mickey mouse, adverse criticism, advertent, agog, alert, all ears,
   all eyes, animadversion, annoying, aspersion, assiduous, attentive,
   aware, bad notices, bad press, captious, captiousness, careful,
   carping, cavil, caviling, censoriousness, concentrated, conscious,
   critical, criticism, cynical, diligent, earnest, exception,
   faultfinding, finical, finicking, finicky, flak, frivolous, fussy,
   hairsplitting, heedful, hit, home thrust, hostile criticism,
   hypercritical, hypercriticalness, hypercriticism, imputation,
   inconsequential, insignificant, intense, intent, intentive,
   irksome, irritating, jerkwater, knock, measly, meticulous, mindful,
   nagging, nice, niggle, nit, nit-picking, nugatory, obloquy,
   observant, observing, on the ball, on the job, one-horse,
   open-eared, open-eyed, openmouthed, overcritical, overcriticalness,
   paltry, peanut, pestering, pettifogging, petty, picayune,
   picayunish, piddling, piffling, poky, priggishness, punk, puny,
   quibble, quibbling, rap, reflection, regardful, reproachfulness,
   slam, small-beer, small-time, stricture, swipe, taking exception,
   tinhorn, trichoschistic, trichoschistism, trifling, trivial,
   troublesome, two-bit, two-by-four, ultracritical, unimportant,
   vexatious, vexing, watchful, worrisome, worrying

Niggling >> N Words
Niggling, definition of term: Niggling
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