HAIRSPLITTERS Synonyms

• tending to find and call attention to faults

• someone whose reasoning is subtle and often specious

• a disputant who quibbles; someone who raises annoying petty objections

• someone who is critical of the motives of others

• someone who makes small and unjustified criticisms

• a person who pays more attention to formal rules and book learning than they merit

• a disputant who quibbles; someone who raises annoying petty objections

• someone whose reasoning is subtle and often specious

• any of a group of Greek philosophers and teachers in the 5th century BC who speculated on a wide range of subjects

• a worker who splits fish and removes the backbone

• a taxonomist who classifies organisms into many groups on the basis of relatively minor characteristics

• a laborer who splits logs to build split-rail fences

• someone who insists on something

• someone who argues noisily or angrily

• a cowboy who takes care of the saddle horses