Dicks Tribune poked endless fun at the hair-splitting sectarianism of the various Trotskyist groups jostling on the fringes of the Labour party at that time.
Wikipedia foundation.
hair-splitting — making over nice distinctions, by 1739, from HAIR (Cf. hair) + SPLIT (Cf. split). To split hairs make over fine distinctions is first recorded 1650s, as to cut the hair. Hair also being 18c. slang for female pudendum, hair splitter was noted in… … Etymology dictionary
hair-splitting — n [U] when people pay too much attention to small differences and unimportant details, especially in an argument →split hairs at ↑split1 (8) … Dictionary of contemporary English
hair-splitting — ► NOUN ▪ the making of overfine distinctions … English terms dictionary
hair-splitting — split hairs to argue about whether details that are not important are exactly correct. I don t have very much patience with all this legal hair splitting … New idioms dictionary
hair-splitting — hair split|ting [ her ,splıtıŋ ] noun uncount the activity of arguing about unimportant details or differences … Usage of the words and phrases in modern English
hair-splitting — noun the action of making overfine distinctions. Derivatives hair splitter noun … English new terms dictionary
hair-splitting — (New American Roget s College Thesaurus) n. quibbling, nitpicking. See dissent … English dictionary for students
hair splitting — make very fine distinctions … English contemporary dictionary
hair-splitting — noun (U) the act of paying too much attention to small differences and unimportant details, especially in an argument see also: split hairs split 1 (7) … Longman dictionary of contemporary English
hair-splitting — UK / US noun [uncountable] the activity of arguing about unimportant details or differences … English dictionary
