hair-splitting
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hair-splitting
Where it comes from
From splitting hairs, q.v.
noun hair-splittings · hair splitting · hairsplitting
-
The act of considering or arguing about exceedingly small differences, fine details, and/or edge cases of no seeming importance, worrying about minutiae.
Regardless of the ultimate judgment and any hair splitting, the CIA seemed to many Americans to have regressed to and even surpassed its criminal-like behavior during the pre-Church Committee hearings era.
Similar: hair-splittery, pedantry, pilpul, casuistry, casuistics, Jesuitism, Jesuitry
Similar: quibbling
adjective more hair-splitting · most hair-splitting · hair splitting · hairsplitting
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Of or characterized by hair-splitting, seeking or having exceedingly small differences, fine details, and/or edge cases of no seeming importance, concerning or concerned with minutiae.
2006, Ian Aitken, in The Guardian, Richard Clements Obituary
Dick's Tribune poked endless fun at the hair-splitting sectarianism of the various Trotskyist groups jostling on the fringes of the Labour party at that time.
Similar: pedantic, casuistic, casuistical, jesuitic, jesuitical, Talmudic, pilpulic, pilpulistic
Similar: quibbling
Thesaurus
noun
Similar: quibbling
adjective
Similar: quibbling
Translations
Every language
noun the act of finding exceedingly small differences which are neither important nor prominent
| Français | enculage de mouches, couper les cheveux en quatre, pinaillage, diptérosodomie |
|---|---|
| Deutsch | Haarspalterei |
| Italiano | spaccare il cappello in quattro |
| Русский | дото́шность dotóšnostʹ, зану́дство zanúdstvo, въе́дливость vʺjédlivostʹ |
Talk about this word "hair-splitting." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/hair-splitting. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. hair-splitting. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/hair-splitting "hair-splitting." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/hair-splitting.Cite this
@misc{hair_splitting_2026,
title = {hair-splitting},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/hair-splitting},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
