niggle

Word family

nig·gle1 /ˈnɪɡəl/ verb

1 [transitiveT]WORRIED if something niggles you, you keep worrying about it or feeling annoyed about it and you cannot forget it 惹恼，烦扰 → bug

Something’s been niggling her all day.

有什么事烦了她一整天。

It niggles me that we can’t go home yet and get warm.

我很生气，我们到现在还不能回家暖和暖和。

2 ARGUE[intransitiveI] to argue or make criticisms about small unimportant details 吹毛求疵，挑剔

She niggled over every detail of the bill.

账单上的每个细节她都要挑刺。

Examples from the Corpus

niggle• He used to niggle at me for being a capitalist farmer and I got at him for being an unemployed commie.• Doubts niggled at the back of her mind.• She was niggled by a lingering doubt that she might have played her cards badly.• I was niggled during those first few months by the feeling of being a charlatan.• Clearly something other than the bass notes on the wireless niggled him.• The empty feeling of the place niggled management.• So this was Guy Sterne's type of woman, an irritating little voice niggled the back of her mind.• And the editor is the only area to niggle with, really.

niggle2 noun [countableC]

1 a slight feeling 轻微的感觉

a niggle of doubt

一丝疑虑

2. a slight criticism or complaint 轻微的批评；小牢骚

3 a slight physical pain 轻微疼痛

a niggle in his knee

他膝盖上轻微的疼痛

Examples from the Corpus

niggle• Almost as if he believed his story ... And she herself started to feel another niggle of doubt.• It is an excellent book, as I took care to point out, except for my few niggles.• Time may sort it out for me, but meanwhile I have to live with its niggle.• My only niggle is that the seams on the top of the shoulder are quite prominent and uncomfortable.• Numerous other niggles arose from our months together.• And that's my only other niggle, really.• He'd meant to stay longer, but a wee niggle in his mind made him return early.

Origin niggle

(1600-1700) Perhaps from a Scandinavian language

nig·gle1 verbniggle2 noun

Chinese

Syllable

Corpus