“To cavil” means “to raise trivial objections to.” If you’ve ever had a friend who always had an excuse for why they couldn’t go out, or worked on a group project in which one member found complaint with everything, you’ve experienced cavilling. This word can be used as a transitive verb, meaning it takes a direct object, or it can be an intransitive verb, meaning it doesn’t take a direct object. “Cavil” comes from the Latin “cavillari,” meaning “to jest,” so these objections likely don’t need to be taken too seriously.