hairsplitting
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
But Oedipus is in no mood for academic hairsplitting.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 13, 2025
These arguably hairsplitting thoughts nagged at me thanks to my job as a congressional correspondent focused on federal spending.
From New York Times ● Jan. 17, 2024
They generally involve rephrasing the accusation, then issuing a very narrowly-crafted and hairsplitting denial, while avoiding the central claim.
From Salon ● Nov. 21, 2019
This is a strange time to be debating the merits of truth in journalism on the stage—and it is journalism that John is practicing here, regardless of his genre hairsplitting.
From The New Yorker ● Oct. 22, 2018
It was fine legal reasoning, not without some of that hairsplitting for which Jefferson reproached Randolph.
From Thomas Jefferson The Apostle of Americanism by Gilbert Chinard
