hairsplitting

hairsplitting is defined in Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1913) with 1 sense. The full text of each entry is reproduced verbatim below.

Definitions

  1. 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.

Source: Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913 edition (public domain, via GCIDE / Project Gutenberg).

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