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Of or characterized by hair-splitting, seeking or having exceedingly small differences, fine details, and/or edge cases of no seeming importance, concerning or concerned with minutiae.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: derogatory, idiomatic
Examples
- 2006, Ian Aitken, in The Guardian, Richard Clements Obituary Dick's Tribune poked endless fun at the hair-splitting sectarianism of the various Trotskyist groups jostling on the fringes of the Labour party at that time.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
The act of considering or arguing about exceedingly small differences, fine details, and/or edge cases of no seeming importance, worrying about minutiae.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: countable, derogatory, idiomatic, uncountable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
From splitting hairs, q.v.
Across languages
Translations
14 source translations are retained for this English entry.
-
Finnish:
hiusten halkominen
— the act of finding exceedingly small differences which are neither important nor prominent
-
French:
enculage de mouches
— the act of finding exceedingly small differences which are neither important nor prominent
-
French:
couper les cheveux en quatre
— the act of finding exceedingly small differences which are neither important nor prominent
-
French:
pinaillage
— the act of finding exceedingly small differences which are neither important nor prominent
-
French:
diptérosodomie
— the act of finding exceedingly small differences which are neither important nor prominent
-
German:
Haarspalterei
— the act of finding exceedingly small differences which are neither important nor prominent
-
Hungarian:
szőrszálhasogatás
— the act of finding exceedingly small differences which are neither important nor prominent
-
Icelandic:
hártogun
— the act of finding exceedingly small differences which are neither important nor prominent
-
Norwegian Bokmål:
hårkløveri
— the act of finding exceedingly small differences which are neither important nor prominent
-
Polish:
dzielenie włosa na czworo
— the act of finding exceedingly small differences which are neither important nor prominent
-
Russian:
дото́шность
(dotóšnostʹ)
— the act of finding exceedingly small differences which are neither important nor prominent
-
Russian:
зану́дство
(zanúdstvo)
— the act of finding exceedingly small differences which are neither important nor prominent
-
Russian:
въе́дливость
(vʺjédlivostʹ)
— the act of finding exceedingly small differences which are neither important nor prominent
-
Swedish:
hårklyveri
— the act of finding exceedingly small differences which are neither important nor prominent
