hairsplitting Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun making too fine distinctions of little importance
    word-splitting.
    • they didn't take his hairsplitting seriously
  2. adjective satellite developed in excessively fine detail
    finespun.
    • finespun distinctions

WordNet


Hair"split`ting adjective
Definitions
  1. Making excessively nice or trivial distinctions in reasoning; subtle. -- n. The act or practice of making trivial distinctions.
    The ancient hairsplitting technicalities of special pleading. Charles Sumner.

Webster 1913