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Verb: pick at
  1. Eat only small pieces of food at a time
    "The anorexic girl just picks at her food";
    - peck at, peck [informal]
     
  2. Pluck or pull at with the fingers
    "She nervously picked at the hem of her dress";
    - pluck at, pull at
     
  3. Express a negative opinion of
    "She picked at her student's efforts";
    - disparage, belittle

Derived forms: picked at, picking at, picks at

Type of: criticise [Brit], criticize, damn [informal], eat, knock [informal], pick apart, pull