hair-splittingn.
The ‘splitting of hairs’; the making of over-nice distinctions.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > understanding > reason, faculty of reasoning > misleading argument, sophistry > excessive subtlety, hair-splitting > [noun] > action of
subtlinga1398
subtilizing1596
subtilization1755
hair-splitting1826
straw-splitting1828
1826 Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. 20 854/2 A sort of game at hair-splitting.
1857–8 E. H. Sears Athanasia 15 Metaphysical hair-splitting could hardly show the difference.
1874 H. R. Reynolds John the Baptist v. i. 306 The hair-splitting of logical Casuistry.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1898; most recently modified version published online June 2019).
hair-splittingadj.
That ‘splits hairs’; that makes over-nice distinctions, over-refining.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > understanding > reason, faculty of reasoning > misleading argument, sophistry > excessive subtlety, hair-splitting > [adjective]
oversubtle1490
curious1585
metaphysical1646
metaphysic1663
subtle1668
subtilizing1683
hair-splitting1820
straw-splitting1828
pilpulistic1878
1820 T. Mitchell in tr. Aristophanes Comedies I. p. cxxxv The hair-splitting niceties of language.
1851 M. Reid Scalp Hunters II. xi. 187 Credit..for their hair-splitting ingenuity.
1856 F. L. Olmsted Journey Slave States 121 It takes a more hair-splitting mind, than negroes are generally endowed with, to think otherwise.
1877 J. C. Geikie Life & Words Christ II. li. 312 Subjects for dispute to hair-splitting theologians.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1898; most recently modified version published online September 2019).
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n.1826adj.1820