hair-splitting

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.

In his written judgement, Mr Justice Knowles said the grounds on which the panel had rejected the judge's application for relocation amounted to "semantic hair-splitting".

From BBC • Mar. 6, 2024

VOA’s stance has led to some intricate hair-splitting.

From Washington Times • Oct. 25, 2023

And so, after all the parsing and hair-splitting, we come to the heartfelt, rough-hewn denials.

From Salon • Jun. 30, 2023

When you are trying to not touch your face you will engage in a lot of hair-splitting over what, exactly, constitutes touching your face.

From Slate • Mar. 3, 2020

This is not hair-splitting in the opprobrious sense of that term.

From Essays In Pastoral Medicine by ?Malley, Austin