Synonyms

pick at

British

verb

(intr, preposition) to make criticisms of in a niggling or petty manner

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

pick at Idioms

Pluck or pull at, especially with the fingers, as in She was always picking at her skirt with her nails . [1600s]
Eat sparingly and without appetite, as in He was just picking at his dinner . [Late 1500s]
Nag, badger, as in He's picking at me all day long . [ Colloquial ; second half of 1600s]

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

The short video shows Mychelle in a hospital gown picking at a pastry, along with what appears to be a case for a portable breast pump in her lap.

From Los Angeles Times

The two spend the years picking at each other while secretly growing fond of the other’s company, though never able to act on their feelings due to the difference in their social status.

From Salon

Of course, Boritt had devoted much of that life, as a historian, to picking at one of the gnarliest scabs in American history.

From The Wall Street Journal

Instead, they’re frozen in their grown-up strangeness, Dad picking at his nails and Aunt Melissa tying her dish towel into knots.

From Literature

He picked at the patch on the back.

From Literature

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023