hairsplitting
the making of unnecessarily fine distinctions.
characterized by such distinctions: the hairsplitting arguments of a political debate.
Origin of hairsplitting
1Other words for hairsplitting
2 | quibbling, niggling, nitpicking, captious |
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.
The Positive Outcome of Philosophy | Joseph DietzgenIt was fine legal reasoning, not without some of that hairsplitting for which Jefferson reproached Randolph.
Thomas Jefferson | Gilbert ChinardBut, to avoid hairsplitting, what we call "modern" English literature may be said to date from about 1885.
Modern British Poetry | Varioushairsplitting terms like this I do not often employ, but, blessings on the head of Cadmus!
Games for the Playground, Home, School and Gymnasium | Jessie H. BancroftThe mass of the party, he said, did not trouble their heads about theories, but plodded along unmindful of hairsplitting.
Socialism and Democracy in Europe | Samuel P. Orth
British Dictionary definitions for hairsplitting
/ (ˈhɛəˌsplɪtɪŋ) /
the making of petty distinctions
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
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