split+hairs
11split hairs — make unnecessary distinctions He makes a lot of good points but he also has a tendency to split hairs and waste a lot of our time …
12Split hairs — If people split hairs, they concentrate on tiny and unimportant details to find fault with something …
13split hairs — you missed the point because you were so busy splitting hairs while you re splitting hairs over who s the better parent, no one is watching the kids Syn: quibble, cavil, carp, niggle, chop logic; informal nitpick; archaic pettifog …
14split hairs — to argue about very small differences or unimportant details. It s splitting hairs to tell people that they cannot lie but it is all right if they exaggerate …
15To split hairs — Split Split (spl[i^]t), v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Split} ({Splitted}, R.); p. pr. & vb. n. {Splitting}.] [Probably of Scand. or Low German origin; cf. Dan. splitte, LG. splitten, OD. splitten, spletten, D. splijten, G. spleissen, MHG. spl[=i]zen. Cf.… …
16split hairs — phrasal to make oversubtle or trivial distinctions …
17split hairs — Synonyms and related words: analyze, anatomize, around the bush, atomize, beat about, beg the question, bicker, boggle, cavil, change, chop logic, choplogic, contradistinguish, demarcate, demark, desynonymize, difference, differentiate,… …
18split hairs — debate, make tiny distinctions …
19split hairs — hare n …
20split hairs — make overfine distinctions. → hair …
