Definition of "pinpricks" []

• Plural form of pinprick. (noun)

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• "This is the time when any government of any people, I don't care what it is, which assumes as a policy of its politics the attitude of observer of its obligations to its neighbors, indulging in pinpricks or threats which have no basis except in sound. is doing not only a foolish thing but a criminal thing."
• "BLITZER: And the whole issue of swatting at flies, which we heard Bob Kerrey, the former Nebraska senator, the Democrat, saying he doesn't want to hear that anymore, because the only reference to swatting a fly that he knew of was in response to -- the Clinton administration's response to the twin embassy bombings in East Africa, which was sort of described as pinpricks, not very significant."
• "According to Debat, the administration feels that the Iranians are going to react the same no matter how intensively they are bombed, so might as well go beyond "pinpricks" and really zap the hell out of them."