pettifog
/'petifɔg/
Học thuậtThân thiện
Definition
Verb: 1. To argue or quibble over trivial or insignificant details: To engage in petty, often legalistic, argumentation, focusing on minor points rather than the substance of an issue.
Usage and Examples
- General Argument: To engage in a petty, unnecessary dispute.
- The committee meeting was unproductive because they spent the whole time pettifogging about the wording of the agenda.
- Instead of addressing the main complaint, the customer service representative chose to pettifog about the exact time the email was sent.
- Legal Context: To practice law in a petty, unscrupulous, or overly technical manner.
- The lawyer was known to pettifog, using minor technicalities to delay the proceedings.
Advanced Usage
- "To pettifog over something": To argue contentiously about a specific minor point.
- We cannot afford to pettifog over the font size when the entire document's content is flawed.
Variants and Related Words
- Pettifogger (noun): A person who quibbles over trivial details, especially a lawyer who uses petty or dishonest methods.
- He was dismissed as a mere pettifogger who obstructed justice with technicalities.
- Pettifoggery (noun): The practice of arguing over trivialities; petty, legalistic trickery.
- The contract was full of legal pettifoggery designed to confuse the signatory.
Synonyms
- Quibble: To argue or complain about small, unimportant matters.
- Cavil: To make petty or unnecessary objections.
- Split hairs: To make excessively fine distinctions.
- Bicker: To argue about petty and trivial matters.
Antonyms
- Concede: To admit that something is true or valid after first denying or resisting it.
- Agree: To have the same opinion about something.
- Substantiate: To provide evidence to support or prove the truth of something (focusing on substance, not trivialities).
Verb
- argue over petty things
- Let's not quibble over pennies