hairsplitting

[ hair-split-ing ]
See synonyms for hairsplitting on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. the making of unnecessarily fine distinctions.

adjective
  1. characterized by such distinctions: the hairsplitting arguments of a political debate.

Origin of hairsplitting

1
First recorded in 1820–30; hair + splitting

Other words for hairsplitting

Other words from hairsplitting

  • hairsplitter, noun

Words Nearby hairsplitting

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use hairsplitting in a sentence

  • Secondly, you must not think too little of it, by regarding the matter as mere scholastic word-mongery and useless hairsplitting.

  • It was fine legal reasoning, not without some of that hairsplitting for which Jefferson reproached Randolph.

    Thomas Jefferson | Gilbert Chinard
  • But, to avoid hairsplitting, what we call "modern" English literature may be said to date from about 1885.

  • hairsplitting terms like this I do not often employ, but, blessings on the head of Cadmus!

  • The mass of the party, he said, did not trouble their heads about theories, but plodded along unmindful of hairsplitting.

British Dictionary definitions for hairsplitting

hairsplitting

/ (ˈhɛəˌsplɪtɪŋ) /


noun
  1. the making of petty distinctions

adjective
  1. occupied with or based on petty distinctions

Derived forms of hairsplitting

  • hairsplitter, noun

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