quibble
Other forms: quibbling; quibbles; quibbled
A quibble is a small argument or fight. As a verb, it means to pick a mini-fight over something that doesn't really matter. "Let's not quibble over price," people will say, usually when they plan to gouge you.
It's better to watch figure skating with the sound off, rather than listening to the announcers quibble over a not-fully-rotated knee or the slightly diminished altitude of a jump. Sometimes a quibble between neighbors over two feet of property can escalate into a major feud.
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evade the truth of a point or question by raising irrelevant objections
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argue over petty things
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an evasion of the point of an argument by raising irrelevant distinctions or objectionstype of:equivocation, evasiona statement that is not literally false but that cleverly avoids an unpleasant truth
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Vocabulary lists containing quibble
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