verb ·Uncommon ·College level

Definitions

Verb

1. 1
   To correct insignificant mistakes or find fault in unimportant details. figuratively

   "Someone will invariably nitpick about any spelling error posted to the forums."

2. 2
   be overly critical; criticize minor details wordnet
3. 3
   To pick nits (lice eggs) from someone’s hair. archaic
4. 4
   To pick nits (lice eggs) from someone’s hair. I nitpicked his hair.; I nitpicked his hair. archaic

Synonyms

All synonyms

cavilquibblesplit hairsaround the bushbeat aboutbeat around the bush

Example

More examples

"All you ever do is nitpick. I wish you could say something more constructive."

Etymology

From nit + pick, originally referring to literally removing invisibly tiny louse eggs by hand.

Related phrases

nit pickingsplit hairs

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