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.

This may seem like hairsplitting, but it is not without import.

From Washington Post

It’s the sort of technical hairsplitting that might be appropriate if the user in question were a foul-mouthed teenager, not a world leader whose words were getting people killed.

From Washington Post

That may verge on meteorological hairsplitting, but an essential part of the message of spring is freedom from the frigid clutches of ice and snow.

From Washington Post

It's trying to accomplish too much — wielding the populist and racist impulses in the GOP for her own ends — with too little — hairsplitting wordplay.

From Salon

Editors there decided that the dispute amounted to hairsplitting.

From New York Times