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Meaning of "hairsplitting" in the English dictionary

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DICTIONARY
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PRONUNCIATION OF HAIRSPLITTING

hairsplitting  [ˈhɛəˌsplɪtɪŋ] play
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GRAMMATICAL CATEGORY OF HAIRSPLITTING

noun
adjective
verb
adverb
pronoun
preposition
conjunction
determiner
exclamation
Hairsplitting can act as a noun and an adjective.
A noun is a type of word the meaning of which determines reality. Nouns provide the names for all things: people, objects, sensations, feelings, etc.

The adjective is the word that accompanies the noun to determine or qualify it.

WHAT DOES HAIRSPLITTING MEAN IN ENGLISH?

Trivial objections

Trivial objections is an informal logical fallacy where irrelevant and sometimes frivolous objections are made to divert the attention away from the topic that is being discussed. This type of argument is called a "quibble" or "quillet". Trivial objections are a special case of red herring. The fallacy often appears when an argument is difficult to oppose. The person making a trivial objection may appear ready to accept the argument in question, but at the same time they will oppose it in many different ways. These objections can appear in the form of lists, hypotheticals, and even accusations. Such objections themselves may be valid, but they fail to confront the main argument under consideration. Instead, the objection opposes a small, irrelevant part of the main argument. The fallacy is committed because of this diversion; it is fallacious to oppose a point on the basis of minor and incidental aspects, rather than responding to the main claim. Example: Amy: Tomatoes are fruit, not vegetable. Tom: Tomatoes can't be fruit. They don't grow on trees. Amy: But pineapples also don't grow on trees and are fruit. Tom: Tomatoes still can't be fruit.

Definition of hairsplitting in the English dictionary

The definition of hairsplitting in the dictionary is the making of petty distinctions. Other definition of hairsplitting is occupied with or based on petty distinctions.

WORDS THAT RHYME WITH HAIRSPLITTING


billeting
ˈbɪlɪtɪŋ
dating
ˈdeɪtɪŋ
decorating
ˈdɛkəˌreɪtɪŋ
editing
ˈedɪtɪŋ
exciting
ɪkˈsaɪtɪŋ
fascinating
ˈfæsɪˌneɪtɪŋ
fee-splitting
ˈfiːˌsplɪtɪŋ
fighting
ˈfaɪtɪŋ
fitting
ˈfɪtɪŋ
flitting
ˈflɪtɪŋ
lighting
ˈlaɪtɪŋ
marketing
ˈmɑːkɪtɪŋ
operating
ˈɒpəreɪtɪŋ
rating
ˈreɪtɪŋ
sitting
ˈsɪtɪŋ
songwriting
ˈsɒŋˌraɪtɪŋ
splitting
ˈsplɪtɪŋ
visiting
ˈvɪzɪtɪŋ
waiting
ˈweɪtɪŋ
writing
ˈraɪtɪŋ

WORDS THAT BEGIN LIKE HAIRSPLITTING

hairlike
hairline
hairline crack
hairline fracture
hairnet
hairpiece
hairpin
hairpin bend
hairpin curve
hairsplitter
hairspray
hairspring
hairstreak
hairstyle
hairstylist
hairtail
hairweaving
hairwork
hairworm
hairy

WORDS THAT END LIKE HAIRSPLITTING

accounting
admitting
batting
betting
chatting
committing
cutting
emitting
formatting
letting
netting
permitting
plotting
putting
resetting
setting
spitting
spotting
submitting
transmitting
upsetting

Synonyms and antonyms of hairsplitting in the English dictionary of synonyms

SYNONYMS

SYNONYMS OF «HAIRSPLITTING»

The following words have a similar or identical meaning as «hairsplitting» and belong to the same grammatical category.
synonyms of hairsplitting

Translation of «hairsplitting» into 25 languages

TRANSLATOR
online translator

TRANSLATION OF HAIRSPLITTING

Find out the translation of hairsplitting to 25 languages with our English multilingual translator.
The translations of hairsplitting from English to other languages presented in this section have been obtained through automatic statistical translation; where the essential translation unit is the word «hairsplitting» in English.

Translator English - Chinese

吹毛求疵
1,325 millions of speakers

Translator English - Spanish

hairsplitting
570 millions of speakers

English

hairsplitting
510 millions of speakers

Translator English - Hindi

hairsplitting
380 millions of speakers
ar

Translator English - Arabic

الشجار
280 millions of speakers

Translator English - Russian

педантизму
278 millions of speakers

Translator English - Portuguese

hairsplitting
270 millions of speakers

Translator English - Bengali

hairsplitting
260 millions of speakers

Translator English - French

ergotage
220 millions of speakers

Translator English - Malay

Pelan rambut
190 millions of speakers

Translator English - German

Haarspaltereien
180 millions of speakers

Translator English - Japanese

hairsplitting
130 millions of speakers

Translator English - Korean

사소한 일에 구애
85 millions of speakers

Translator English - Javanese

Hairsplitting
85 millions of speakers
vi

Translator English - Vietnamese

tóc chẻ
80 millions of speakers

Translator English - Tamil

hairsplitting
75 millions of speakers

Translator English - Marathi

हेअरप्लेसिंग
75 millions of speakers

Translator English - Turkish

kılı kırk yarma
70 millions of speakers

Translator English - Italian

hairsplitting
65 millions of speakers

Translator English - Polish

hairsplitting
50 millions of speakers

Translator English - Ukrainian

педантизму
40 millions of speakers

Translator English - Romanian

despici firul
30 millions of speakers
el

Translator English - Greek

αερολογίες
15 millions of speakers
af

Translator English - Afrikaans

hairsplitting
14 millions of speakers
sv

Translator English - Swedish

hårklyverier
10 millions of speakers
no

Translator English - Norwegian

hairsplitting
5 millions of speakers

Trends of use of hairsplitting

TRENDS

TENDENCIES OF USE OF THE TERM «HAIRSPLITTING»

The term «hairsplitting» is regularly used and occupies the 88.158 position in our list of most widely used terms in the English dictionary.
0
100%
FREQUENCY
Regularly used
59
/100
The map shown above gives the frequency of use of the term «hairsplitting» in the different countries.
Principal search tendencies and common uses of hairsplitting
List of principal searches undertaken by users to access our English online dictionary and most widely used expressions with the word «hairsplitting».

FREQUENCY OF USE OF THE TERM «HAIRSPLITTING» OVER TIME

The graph expresses the annual evolution of the frequency of use of the word «hairsplitting» during the past 500 years. Its implementation is based on analysing how often the term «hairsplitting» appears in digitalised printed sources in English between the year 1500 and the present day.

Examples of use in the English literature, quotes and news about hairsplitting

EXAMPLES

10 ENGLISH BOOKS RELATING TO «HAIRSPLITTING»

Discover the use of hairsplitting in the following bibliographical selection. Books relating to hairsplitting and brief extracts from same to provide context of its use in English literature.
1
Latinos and Education: A Critical Reader
The Hairsplitting Concept. This last type of covert racism is rather elusive, but it is no less real. We describe the hairsplitting concept as a potpourri of trivial technicalities, or subjective judgment calls, which prevent minorities from being hired or ...
Antonia Darder, Rodolfo D. Torres, Henry Gutiérrez, 1997
2
The Smudged Mirror: And Other Contemporary, Abstract, ...
Hairoplitting. The practice of legalistic authority Nothing else to do Hairsplitting! Politics. What else? Religion and government Hairsplitting! The way of all perfectionists Where's mercy? Where's forgiveness? Where's kindness? And tolerance ...
Michael A. Sardo, 2002
3
Open Immediately!: Straight Talk on Direct Mail Fundraising ...
Hairsplitting Traps to Avoid The key to success in direct mail fundraising is making sure you have a schedule that includes enough mailings to give your donors, and prospective donors, sufficient opportunities to support your organization.
Stephen Hitchcock, 2004
4
English/German Dictionary of Idioms: Supplement to the ...
... a hair's breadth haarscharf: haarscharf an jm. vorbeifahren/... to pass/to come/.. . within a hair's breadth of s.o. haarscharf: haarscharf an jm. vorbeifahren/... hairsplitting. it/s.th. is just hairsplitting Streit: etw.ist ein Streit um desKaisers Bart. half.
Professor Hans Schemann, 2013
5
A Psychology of Hope: A Biblical Response to Tragedy and Suicide
Hairsplitting is seen as, at best, a clever but ultimately trivial attempt to avoid life's tragic irreconcilabilities. But biblical and rabbinic thought do not see the world as tragic. Furthermore, it is the very “hairsplitting” attacked by the Western world ...
Kalman J. Kaplan, Matthew B. Schwartz, 2008
6
How to Solve Problems And Prevent Trouble
somewhat like hairsplitting. So whether or not you think it is hairsplitting depends on your definition of hairsplitting. In any case, truth is truth so long as it conforms with reality. There is nothing indefinite about reality. Despite a lot of misguided ...
Richard W. Wetherill, 2008
7
Hijikata Tatsumi and Ohno Kazuo
The word 'hairsplitting' has positive connotation in Japan,because inthis attitude, you can befreely influenced by subtlechange. For us butoh isnot athletic, but isa wayof feeling and perceiving theinner and outerworld in the subtlest way: Ifyou ...
Sondra Fraleigh, Tamah Nakamura, 2006
8
Home Front Baltimore: An Album of Stories from World War II
... of America. “But I think about that flag every now and then. So many memories of my life in Baltimore in wartime stay wrapped up in it. . . still.” It. was. all. very. confusing,. with. much. hairsplitting. and. differing. perspectives. Reuben Shiling  ...
Gilbert Sandler, 2011
9
Feel Fab at 50
HAIRSPLITTING. Be wary of hairdressers and makeup advisors who don't understand the difference between cool and warm. The current trend is for us to be 'warmed up'. Cosmetic counters offer bronzing powers and fake tans to turn us into ...
Sue Donnelly, 2008
10
Jewish Themes in Star Trek
The discussion soon became as highly technical as the physics debates [in a science group he had visited earlier] -- but much more personal: the question provoked a hairsplitting, flame-throwing fracas involving the minuitia of Jewish Law, ...
Yonassan Gershom, 2009

10 NEWS ITEMS WHICH INCLUDE THE TERM «HAIRSPLITTING»

Find out what the national and international press are talking about and how the term hairsplitting is used in the context of the following news items.
1
The court's manufactured crisis
They have come up in the context of legal hairsplitting and not because there is any public debate on them. We now have two options: The ... «Israel Hayom, Jul 15»
2
Defending Raje and Swaraj: PM Modi promised us the moon but …
Legal hairsplitting may or may not absolve her of a wrongdoing under the 13(1)(d) of PCA, but the sequence of events, based on available ... «Firstpost, Jul 15»
3
Of markets and morals, encyclicals and environment, poverty and …
This observation is not hairsplitting. Marketable allowances (often called cap-and-trade) programs place a constraint on the total emissions of a ... «The Hill, Jul 15»
4
OUR VIEW: Teen taunts, 'cyberbullying' and free speech
In a 27-page opinion packed with tortured legal hairsplitting and wholly devoid of common sense, the Court of Appeals declined to strike down ... «Richmond County Daily Journal, Jun 15»
5
FCC Clarifies, Strengthens Consumer Protection
The FCC's action has been to clarify the rules, thus eliminating some of the legal hairsplitting (there are those who would argue that this is the ... «No Jitter, Jun 15»
6
Another tack: Zilch, zippo, nada, gurnisht, bubkes
This is quite apart from of the fact that the court technically only dealt with American constitutional hairsplitting on who's empowered to ... «Jerusalem Post Israel News, Jun 15»
7
Jon Stewart celebrates Donald Trump post-presidential bid media …
Whether it's the Commander-in-Trump's plans for stopping ISIS or his hairsplitting description of why his campaign slogan is different from ... «Entertainment Weekly, Jun 15»
8
Bill Shorten confronts problems of his own making
Shorten was reduced to a hairsplitting argument that Labor may have paid money to people-smugglers on land but hadn't done so to turn back ... «The Australian, Jun 15»
9
Gay Marriage? Same-Sex Marriage? How Should We Talk About …
Fine cautioned against letting excessive, hairsplitting deference alienate potential allies: “If we want to use media to serve social movements ... «Slate Magazine, Jun 15»
10
The Charleston Gazette: Heartless health-care attack
The hairsplitting suit seeks to kill subsidized coverage for 6.4 million Americans in 34 states (including West Virginia) that chose to use the ... «Charleston Gazette, Jun 15»

REFERENCE
« EDUCALINGO. Hairsplitting [online]. Available <https://educalingo.com/en/dic-en/hairsplitting>. Apr 2024 ».
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