Haarspalterei — meaning in English

English meaning

• quibble noun A minor, often pedantic objection or complaint about a small detail.
• sophistry noun The actions or arguments of a sophist.

Senses

Haarspalterei is used for these senses in English:

• hair-splitting (idiomatic) the act of finding exceedingly small differences which are probably neither important nor noticeable to most people.
• quibble An argument or objection based on an ambiguity of wording or similar trivial circumstance; a minor complaint. [from 17th c.]
• split hairs (idiomatic) Tedious details; minutiae.
• split hairs (idiomatic) To consider or argue about fine details; to worry about minutiae.

quibble — full definition

1. noun A minor, often pedantic objection or complaint about a small detail.
2. verb To argue or complain over trivial points.

sophistry — full definition

1. noun The actions or arguments of a sophist.
2. noun Plausible yet fallacious argumentation or reasoning.
3. noun An argument that seems plausible, but is fallacious or misleading, especially one devised deliberately to be so.

Related German words