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

But then Team Gorsuch began nitpicking and hairsplitting, and now the story seems relevant.

From Washington Post • Jan. 21, 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

Even the study of the Talmud was abandoning simple, undistorted methods of interpretation, and espousing the hairsplitting dialectics of the northern French school.

From Jewish Literature and Other Essays by Karpeles, Gustav