noun
- a person who makes excessively fine or pedantic distinctions; someone who quibbles over trivial details
Usage: informal; often used critically
Examples
- Don't be such a hairsplitter—the main point is clear even if the wording isn't perfect.
- He's a hairsplitter who argues about every comma in the contract.
- The professor was accused of being a hairsplitter for insisting on the distinction between 'may' and 'might'.
- In negotiations, a hairsplitter can slow down progress by debating minor details.
- She dismissed his objection as the complaint of a hairsplitter obsessed with semantics.