noun ·3 syllables ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   The painstaking process of removing nits (lice eggs) from someone's hair. countable, uncountable
2. 2
   A process of finding or pointing out tiny details or errors, particularly if the pointed-out details seem insignificant or irrelevant to all but the finder. broadly, countable, figuratively, uncountable

   ""Of all life's pleasures, I like nitpicking the best." -- Wally in Dilbert"

Synonyms

All synonyms

cavilinghypercriticism

Example

More examples

"Please don't nitpick just for the sake of nitpicking."

Etymology

From nit + picking.

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