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
This may sound like hairsplitting, but when it comes to Verdi’s longest opera, less is less, even with a strong cast like the Met’s for this revival.
From New York Times ● Nov. 4, 2022
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
Though dry and devoted to hairsplitting as orthodoxy no doubt was, it probably was not quite as lifeless as later generations represent it to have been.
From Hymns and Hymnwriters of Denmark by J. C. (Jens Christian) Aaberg
