How to Use niggle in a Sentence

niggle

1 of 2 verb
  • She had been niggled by worry her entire life.
  • He's always niggling over small details.
  • Something about this might niggle at the back of the mind as the hours go by.
    — Stephanie Rosenbloom, New York Times, 2 Dec. 2019
  • There’s been a series of niggling frustrations in my life the last few weeks.
    — Wayne Chan, San Diego Union-Tribune, 19 June 2025
  • Thank you for the clarification … this question has niggled at me for a long time.
    — Joan Morris, The Mercury News, 2 Feb. 2017
  • At first, the directive seemed plausible, even though the voice message left me with a niggling doubt.
    — Pankaj Vasani, Forbes, 19 Dec. 2024
  • Minor niggles aside, this is a great power station to serve as a home backup or off-grid generator.
    — Simon Hill, Wired News, 5 June 2025
  • While her teammates niggled and nudged to frustrate England, her method was more classical.
    — SI.com, 14 June 2019
  • Later though, the conversation niggled at me.
    — Rachel Linden, PEOPLE, 4 Oct. 2025
  • As a result, a food bully niggles a friend into ordering her way to justify her own decisions.
    — Diane Stopyra, Marie Claire, 24 May 2019
  • From 2021 onwards, only a calf and niggling knee injury have caused Fullkrug to miss games.
    — Roshane Thomas, The Athletic, 21 Aug. 2024
  • That has been due to niggling injury issues, rather than a reflection of the quality of his contributions.
    — Andy Naylor, The Athletic, 9 Feb. 2025
  • The hard part of getting cars to drive themselves is the last niggling 1 percent of reliability.
    — IEEE Spectrum, 18 Oct. 2016
  • Henry dismisses Yasmin but can’t shake the niggling feeling that his wife isn’t entirely wrong.
    — Amanda Whiting, Vulture, 16 Feb. 2026
  • Stocksy As a result, a food bully niggles a friend into ordering her way to justify her own decisions.
    — Diane Stopyra, Marie Claire, 24 May 2019
  • Wilson said, from his experience, the footballers turning to sleeping pills were often those with niggling injuries.
    — Tom Burrows, New York Times, 30 Jan. 2026
  • There are niggling, nagging, familiar concerns, like not taking chances, like being hit on the counter, but our section erupts when Willock scores and then erupts again when his goal is ruled out.
    — George Caulkin, New York Times, 11 Feb. 2026
  • By making a subtle tweak out of possession, Slot looks to have addressed an issue that was niggling away at his side despite last season’s title victory.
    — Mark Carey, New York Times, 15 Sep. 2025
  • But studies also suggest insurers are wont to drag their feet, niggling over coding and charges — and, in doing so, delaying reimbursement and holding on to the cash.
    — Elisabeth Rosenthal, CBS News, 17 July 2024
  • That is because government watchdogs don’t niggle small business lenders for allowing discretionary overrides or customizing credit scoring.
    — Amar Bhidé, WSJ, 13 Sep. 2017
  • In contrast, Pritzker took a more assertive posture during the hearing in which he was also niggled on off-topics, including Illinois’s transgender policies.
    — Naomi Lim, The Washington Examiner, 13 June 2025
  • In his first season back, Cazorla played 26 games in all competitions, providing four assists, but niggling injuries hampered his contribution.
    — Dermot Corrigan, The Athletic, 16 Jan. 2025
  • That said, without examples of what the ERA might change, the accusations of its largely symbolic status — lodged by some of the characters in the series — continue to niggle.
    — Inkoo Kang, The Hollywood Reporter, 2 Apr. 2020
  • The 29-year-old England international, who has once more seen his season disrupted by niggling fitness problems, would boost Chelsea's small squad, with games set to keep coming thick and fast over the next few weeks and months.
    — SI.com, 16 Jan. 2018
  • The new calculation, made at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) near Geneva, could help solve a niggling mystery about this particle’s mass.
    — Clara Moskowitz, Scientific American, 10 Apr. 2026
  • Despite the leadership’s best efforts to focus on the positive, the uncertainty surrounding the future of Goldman’s consumer unit continues to niggle at shareholder faith in the company.
    — Byeamon Barrett, Fortune, 3 Mar. 2023
  • With good cause, too, as Paul Mullin had become such an integral figure by the 2022-23 National League run-in that a niggling knee problem was enough to prompt the club to go out and buy Barrow’s Billy Waters as cover.
    — Richard Sutcliffe, New York Times, 27 Nov. 2025

niggle

2 of 2 noun
  • He has a bit of a niggle in his back.
  • I've had a knee niggle for the past few days.
  • I have a few minor niggles about the performance.
  • Hasay says there have been no hiccups or niggles in training.
    — Chris Chavez, SI.com, 5 Oct. 2017
  • Sure there were small niggles, but there was nothing that would take him out of contention.
    — Sandra Harwitt, USA TODAY, 30 Aug. 2017
  • For those that can set niggles aside, there's a lot to Ad Astra.
    — John Timmer, Ars Technica, 20 Sep. 2019
  • Any niggle or glitch can be gone in an instant, just point and swish and the obstacle is overcome.
    — Jodie Cook, Forbes, 18 Oct. 2021
  • Stoke may shuffle the pack, with Ryan Shawcross doubtful with a back niggle.
    — SI.com, 27 Oct. 2017
  • Other niggles reported in the logbook include a steering wheel that doesn’t tilt down far enough.
    — Eric Tingwall, Car and Driver, 16 June 2017
  • But the love for the property’s aesthetics overrode the niggles.
    — Chandrima Pal, Quartz India, 12 June 2019
  • One final niggle is that despite carrying much less text, the new menu graphics occupy a large chunk of the screen.
    — John Archer, Forbes, 19 Mar. 2021
  • But that’s the only real niggle, because as a sports car the Cyberster ticks the boxes well.
    — James Morris, Fortune Europe, 6 Oct. 2024
  • Some of those changes were enforced through a number of injury niggles and fitness doubts in the Arsenal squad.
    — SI.com, 21 Apr. 2018
  • The most recent of those, Sunday’s 1-0 defeat away to Leeds, still niggles.
    — Andy Naylor, New York Times, 22 May 2026
  • There were some electronic niggles in our early test car, and design features like the split rear door may prove irritating.
    — Ben Oliver, Robb Report, 11 Mar. 2023
  • But Timber has also suffered a couple of niggles that saw Thomas Partey shifted to right back.
    — Jordan Campbell, The Athletic, 22 Nov. 2024
  • This is just a minor niggle since the app’s functionality is far more important than the interface.
    — Zach Epstein, BGR, 14 Aug. 2021
  • The infection left me with limited mobility in my ankle, resulting in a rather awkward stride that caused new niggles in my knees and hips.
    — Allison Pattillo, Health.com, 5 Apr. 2018
  • Many people have adapted by taking up meditation or mindfulness, and in the process have made peace with the doubts and self-criticism that niggle at the back of their brains.
    — oregonlive, 27 Apr. 2020
  • Cambridge Audio appears to have taken minor niggles from its user community to heart and this update is the result.
    — New Atlas, 22 Aug. 2025
  • When the lineup had to be rotated to rest players nursing niggles, backups slotted in with virtually no noticeable decline in team play.
    — Kyle Foley, Orlando Sentinel, 7 Nov. 2024
  • Despite the niggles, the Range Rover embodies both luxury and off-road capability.
    — Martin Padgett Jr., Car and Driver, 2 Aug. 2023
  • For example, experiencing a consistent niggle in your hip while running may actually be due to pelvic floor dysfunction.
    — Jordan Smith, Outside, 11 Sep. 2025
  • The England international made just 16 appearance last season as he was hampered by various knocks and niggles, failing to score or assist.
    — SI.com, 17 Oct. 2019
  • Torino are without star Nigerian midfielder Joel Obi, who won't return until the end of the month after picking up a hamstring niggle at the start of the season.
    — SI.com, 22 Sep. 2017
  • Alistair is four-and-a-half months into his rehabilitation from hip surgery while Jonny, bar the odd niggle, has come through winter training relatively unscathed.
    — Matt Majendie, CNN, 19 Dec. 2017
  • There are a few remaining niggles such as the unpredictable automatic windscreen wipers and variable experiences with Autopilot.
    — James Morris, Forbes, 19 Oct. 2024
  • Bijol has been bulletproof up to now, but Bornauw, who missed 18 games last season for Wolfsburg due to injury and illness, has continued to struggle with niggles since his summer move.
    — Beren Cross, New York Times, 14 Jan. 2026
  • Pogba's absence and the recent niggle suffered by Marouane Fellaini have opened the door for Ander Herrera to return to the side after spending the early weeks of the season on the bench.
    — SI.com, 29 Sep. 2017
  • Osaka, who battled plenty of niggles through 2024 and ended the season early with a back injury, won the first set of her final against Clara Tauson before retiring with an abdominal injury.
    — Charlie Eccleshare, The Athletic, 6 Jan. 2025

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'niggle.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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