Needling

//ˈniːdlɪŋ// noun, verb

noun, verb ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A needy person.
  2. 2
    The act of one who needles or annoys.

    "[…] it is a steady drip drip of small imperceptible needlings and irritations, coming day after day between a man and his wife, […]"

Verb
  1. 1
    present participle and gerund of needle form-of, gerund, participle, present

Example

More examples

"[…] it is a steady drip drip of small imperceptible needlings and irritations, coming day after day between a man and his wife, […]"

Etymology

Etymology 1

From need + -ling.

Etymology 2

From needle + -ing.

Related phrases

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.