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Answer for the clue "Making overfine distinctions ", 13 letters:
hairsplitting

Alternative clues for the word hairsplitting

Word definitions for hairsplitting in dictionaries

WordNet Word definitions in WordNet
adj. developed in excessively fine detail; "finespun distinctions" [syn: finespun ] n. making too fine distinctions of little importance; "they didn't take his hairsplitting seriously" [syn: word-splitting ]

The Collaborative International Dictionary Word definitions in The Collaborative International Dictionary
Hairsplitting \Hair"split`ting\ (-t[i^]ng), a. Making excessively fine or trivial distinctions in reasoning; overly subtle. -- n. The act or practice of making trivial distinctions. The ancient hairsplitting technicalities of special pleading. --Charles ...

Wiktionary Word definitions in Wiktionary
n. The act of considering or argue about fine details, or worrying about minutiae.

Usage examples of hairsplitting.

No, Publius Rutilius, I fear what we have to deal with is a collection of litigious-minded, hairsplitting Romans.

There were few questions about Judaism I could answer easily, and no matter how many books I read, no text could illuminate the theological rain forest where the tenets of that complex and hairsplitting faith luxuriated and multiplied like papayas.

Maia hauled packages, struggled with the cumbersome Musseli accounting system, then faced the scrutiny of a hairsplitting freight-mistress.

In his indictment he did not acquit himself, but called all irenicists hairsplitting fools who, to forestall the worst, had consistently prolonged the national disaster.