v. 1 equivocate, split hairs, evade, be evasive, palter, chop logic, bandy words, cavil, pettifog, Colloq nit-pick While people continued to be kept in slavery, the politicians quibbled over the difference between 'liberty' and 'freedom'
n. 2 quibbling, equivocation, hair-splitting, splitting hairs, evasion, paltering, sophistry, Colloq nit-picking Lawyers often become involved in a quibble over the mot juste and forget their clients 3 cavil, sophism, subtlety, nicety It's a quibble whether you say 'either' and 'neither' to rhyme with 'peek' or 'pike'