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Anyone nit-picking enough to write a letter of correction to an editor doubtless deserves the error that provoked it.
Alvin Toffler

Meaning of "nit-picking" in the English dictionary

Dictionary
DICTIONARY
section

ETYMOLOGY OF THE WORD NIT-PICKING

From nit1 + pick1.
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Etymology is the study of the origin of words and their changes in structure and significance.
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PRONUNCIATION OF NIT-PICKING

nit-picking play
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GRAMMATICAL CATEGORY OF NIT-PICKING

noun
adjective
verb
adverb
pronoun
preposition
conjunction
determiner
exclamation
Nit-Picking can act as a noun and an adjective.
A noun is a type of word the meaning of which determines reality. Nouns provide the names for all things: people, objects, sensations, feelings, etc.

The adjective is the word that accompanies the noun to determine or qualify it.

WHAT DOES NIT-PICKING MEAN IN ENGLISH?

nit-picking

Nitpicking

Nitpicking is the act of removing nits from the host's hair. As the nits are cemented to individual hairs, they cannot be removed with most lice combs and, before modern chemical methods were invented, the only options were to shave all the host's hair or to pick them free one by one. This is a slow and laborious process, as the root of each individual hair must be examined for infestation. It was largely abandoned as modern chemical methods became available; however, as lice populations can and do develop resistance, manual nitpicking is still often necessary. As nitpicking inherently requires fastidious, meticulous attention to detail, the term has become appropriated to describe the practice of meticulously searching for minor, even trivial errors in detail, and then criticising them.

Definition of nit-picking in the English dictionary

The definition of nit-picking in the dictionary is a concern with insignificant details, esp with the intention of finding fault. Other definition of nit-picking is showing such a concern; fussy.

WORDS THAT BEGIN LIKE NIT-PICKING

nit
nit-pick
nit-picker
nit-picky
nitchie
nite
niter
niterie
nitery
nither
nithing
nitid
nitinol
niton
nitramine
nitraniline
nitrate
nitratine
nitration
nitrator

WORDS THAT END LIKE NIT-PICKING

attacking
backing
banking
blocking
checking
clicking
fucking
hacking
kicking
lacking
licking
locking
mocking
packing
picking
rocking
shocking
stocking
sucking
tracking
trucking

Synonyms and antonyms of nit-picking in the English dictionary of synonyms

SYNONYMS

Translation of «nit-picking» into 25 languages

TRANSLATOR
online translator

TRANSLATION OF NIT-PICKING

Find out the translation of nit-picking to 25 languages with our English multilingual translator.
The translations of nit-picking from English to other languages presented in this section have been obtained through automatic statistical translation; where the essential translation unit is the word «nit-picking» in English.

Translator English - Chinese

吹毛求疵
1,325 millions of speakers

Translator English - Spanish

puntillosa
570 millions of speakers

English

nit-picking
510 millions of speakers

Translator English - Hindi

लीख उठा
380 millions of speakers
ar

Translator English - Arabic

أحمق قطف
280 millions of speakers

Translator English - Russian

придирки
278 millions of speakers

Translator English - Portuguese

picuinhas
270 millions of speakers

Translator English - Bengali

নিট-পিকিং
260 millions of speakers

Translator English - French

tatillon
220 millions of speakers

Translator English - Malay

Nit-picking
190 millions of speakers

Translator English - German

kleinlich
180 millions of speakers

Translator English - Japanese

NIT-ピッキング
130 millions of speakers

Translator English - Korean

니트 따기
85 millions of speakers

Translator English - Javanese

Nit-picking
85 millions of speakers
vi

Translator English - Vietnamese

nit- hái
80 millions of speakers

Translator English - Tamil

நிட்-தேர்வு
75 millions of speakers

Translator English - Marathi

निट-पिकिंग
75 millions of speakers

Translator English - Turkish

sirke-toplama
70 millions of speakers

Translator English - Italian

nit -picking
65 millions of speakers

Translator English - Polish

nit - picking
50 millions of speakers

Translator English - Ukrainian

причіпки
40 millions of speakers

Translator English - Romanian

nit -picking
30 millions of speakers
el

Translator English - Greek

σχολαστική
15 millions of speakers
af

Translator English - Afrikaans

muggezifterij
14 millions of speakers
sv

Translator English - Swedish

pedantisk
10 millions of speakers
no

Translator English - Norwegian

flisespikkeri
5 millions of speakers

Trends of use of nit-picking

TRENDS

TENDENCIES OF USE OF THE TERM «NIT-PICKING»

The term «nit-picking» is regularly used and occupies the 65.327 position in our list of most widely used terms in the English dictionary.
0
100%
FREQUENCY
Regularly used
70
/100
The map shown above gives the frequency of use of the term «nit-picking» in the different countries.
Principal search tendencies and common uses of nit-picking
List of principal searches undertaken by users to access our English online dictionary and most widely used expressions with the word «nit-picking».

FREQUENCY OF USE OF THE TERM «NIT-PICKING» OVER TIME

The graph expresses the annual evolution of the frequency of use of the word «nit-picking» during the past 500 years. Its implementation is based on analysing how often the term «nit-picking» appears in digitalised printed sources in English between the year 1500 and the present day.

Examples of use in the English literature, quotes and news about nit-picking

EXAMPLES

QUOTES WITH «NIT-PICKING»

Famous quotes and sentences with the word nit-picking.
1
Alvin Toffler
Anyone nit-picking enough to write a letter of correction to an editor doubtless deserves the error that provoked it.

10 ENGLISH BOOKS RELATING TO «NIT-PICKING»

Discover the use of nit-picking in the following bibliographical selection. Books relating to nit-picking and brief extracts from same to provide context of its use in English literature.
1
Speaking of Animals: A Dictionary of Animal Metaphors
See also Nitpicker; Nit-picking. Compare Strain out Gnats and Swallow Camels. NITPICKER a nitpicker. One who finds fault over trivial matters. WNNCD: 1966. Source: NIT. WNNCD: O.E. This agentive noun suggests monkeys picking fleas ...
Robert Allen Palmatier, 1995
2
The First-Time Manager
Managing the Nit-Picking Employee The worst thing you can do to a nit-picking, detail-loving person is remove the detail. Companies need nit-pickers. They are the people who clean up after the "big-picture hotshots." To paraphrase a ...
Loren B. Belker, 1997
3
LPN to RN Transitions
These include pessimism, nit-picking, worrying, and perfectionism. Blaming is another prevalent form of negative conduct. The remedy for such self-defeating behavior, as suggested by Chenevert, may be in continually recognizing their ...
Lora Claywell, 2013
4
An Actor's Work: A Student's Diary
A Student's Diary Konstantin Stanislavski. and the critic create untruth more often than not, just as the actor who is the object of this nit-picking involuntarily stops performing the active task he has selected and starts playacting truth instead.
Konstantin Stanislavski, 2008
5
The Big Dance: The Story of the NCAA Basketball Tournament
NIT-Picking. (Continued). One year after the NIT opened in New York's Madison Square Garden, the NCAA came out with a tourney of its own. It was more wide- ranging geographically than the NIT. The NCAA field was drawn from each of the  ...
Barry Wilner, Ken Rappoport, 2012
6
The Tinker
Love. as. Nit-Picking. [Abstract: While the goal of reason is to transcend criticism, the goal of love is to express it.] Love has pitched his mansion in the place of excrement. —Yeats Most higher primates perform mutual grooming activities.
Michael H. Riley, 2008
7
A Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English
C.20. (B., 1959.) Also nit-keeper (B., 1942). See also synon. keep nit, and:nit nit! ' Stop talking—someone's listeningl': prisons' c.: since ca. 1930 or a little earlier. Lit . 'nothing, nothing!', nit being a var. of nix, q.v. Cf. nitto! nit-picking, n. and adj.
Eric Partridge, 2006
8
Dealing with Difficult People
83 If you're sick of the sick 85 Everyone having a sickie 86 Cliques, circles and Witches' covens 87 fault-finders illlll nit-pickers 89 If you have a nit—picker for a boss 90 Nit—picking colleagues 91 EIISSiIII a llllSll lil'l! ynu can Ill] Witllllllt 93 The  ...
Roy Lilley, 2013
9
Computerworld
_ Then, once a design i_l is accepted for production, we unleash our nit-picking reliability fanatics. They subject every Tower” product to a gauntlet of excruciating tests, culminating in a final burn-in: three full days IL I of flawless performance.
10
Thinking Like a Woman: Personal Life and Political Ideas
I NOW understand the true meaning of the word “nit-picking.” As an academic I'd always associated nit—picking with what scholars, at their worst, do to each other and to their work: We supposedly analyze concepts to detect and decipher the ...
Christine Overall, 2001

10 NEWS ITEMS WHICH INCLUDE THE TERM «NIT-PICKING»

Find out what the national and international press are talking about and how the term nit-picking is used in the context of the following news items.
1
Review: Archway's stage version of Fawlty Towers is simply spot-on
Okay, the set gets a bit stuck (in between scenes) and some of the lines don't quite get the laughs they deserve, but it feels like nit-picking to ... «Crawley Observer, Jul 15»
2
Sports Hotline: Rangers fans have their say on the first game of the …
You are nit-picking with this line of argument Sean. CALL THE HOTLINE FROM 11 TILL 12 noon on THURSDAY ON: 0141 309 3306 or email ... «Scottish Daily Record, Jul 15»
3
Audi A7 and S6 2015 Review
And given that aspect got on my nerves I started nit-picking a little. The DAB+ radio exhibited more blackspots from systems in other cars I've ... «Motoring, Jul 15»
4
Tame Impala's trippy 'Currents'
The nit-picking and tinkering that preceded this final installment of this holy trinity, however, reiterates what is widely understood as true: with ... «The Michigan Daily, Jul 15»
5
Mark Robins pleased with workout as Scunthorpe United hammer …
“There were a couple in the first half where we were a little bit untidy but I'm just nit-picking. Overall I was pleased. “At the end of the day, it's still ... «Scunthorpe Telegraph, Jul 15»
6
America at an Ominous Crossroads
But such sweeping theories of history leave an author open to nit-picking, as it did with the likes of Toynbee and Johnson, and will certainly do ... «American Spectator, Jul 15»
7
Bringing back the magic in metamaterials
This difficulty has led researchers to try numerous modifications of the metamaterial make-up, adding bulk, mode-by-mode nit-picking and ... «Chemie.de, Jul 15»
8
Colts position breakdown: How much better can Luck get?
Nit-picking Luck's blossoming career is like fine-tuning a Ferrari. Everything under the hood looks pristine. The numbers: He's thrown for more ... «Indianapolis Star, Jul 15»
9
The VP strikes back
... anything against the administration may find themselves getting charged or, worse, ordered closed after some nit-picking by their henchmen ... «Visayan Daily Star, Jul 15»
10
Importance of human factor in negotiations
... is spun for partisan advantage, to make leaders look smart, to label winners and losers, or to undermine progress by nit-picking the data. «Gulf Times, Jul 15»

REFERENCE
« EDUCALINGO. Nit-Picking [online]. Available <https://educalingo.com/en/dic-en/nit-picking>. May 2024 ».
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