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Definition of Hairsplitter
1. Noun. A disputant who makes unreasonably fine distinctions.
Definition of Hairsplitter
1. n. One who makes excessively nice or needless distinctions in reasoning; one who quibbles.
Definition of Hairsplitter
1. Noun. A person who makes extremely, possibly excessively, fine distinctions (who would separate something as fine as a hair into two pieces and distinguish them). ¹
¹ Source: wiktionary.com
Definition of Hairsplitter
1. [n -S]
Lexicographical Neighbors of Hairsplitter
Literary usage of Hairsplitter
Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:
1. American Druggist (1884)
"... for instance) could certainly not be objected to by even the most exacting
hairsplitter and authority upon professional etiquette, it is, ..."
2. Aristocracy in America by Francis Joseph Grund (1839)
"If anything shows the superiority of character over abstract knowledge, it is
the triumph of the honest, straightforward soldier over this hairsplitter. ..."
3. General Types of Superior Men: A Philosophico-psychological Study of Genius by Osias L. Schwarz (1916)
"Wundt, in spite of his great abilities, is too much of a hairsplitter, too selfish,
too fame-seeking, too thirsty for the applause of all living ..."
4. Review of Theology & Philosophy edited by Allan Menzies (1906)
"... passages where a real distinction between i1f and it is impossible to draw
without excessive subtlety "—what a boon to the wearied hairsplitter! (p. ..."
5. Social Justice: A Message to Suffering Humanity by Percy Vivian Jones (1910)
"... the compromiser or the hairsplitter, we may safely here draw the conclusion
that simply because every one has the right to life, he has the right to do ..."
6. The British and Foreign Evangelical Review and Quarterly Record of Christian by James Oswald Dykes, James Stuart Candlish, Hugh Sinclair Paterson, Joseph Samuel Exell (1869)
"To be sure it has been said, that it is difficult for any but a hairsplitter to
perceive the difference between the Lutheran and the Koman Catholic doctrine ..."
7. Journal by Michigan Legislature. Senate (1901)
"... those words should be written so plainly that the skilful hairsplitter will
be compelled to abandon his profession. If the Constitution of this State ..."
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