quiddity
- noun
- /ˈkwɪdɪti/
- Formal
:
quiddidad
- Instead of addressing the core problem, they spent hours arguing about the quiddities that were irrelevant to the solution.
Examples
-
Even a legal gem that could point the way to the law of the future can get lost when it's buried in doctrinal quiddities.
Academic text (2011) -
Many discussions about climate change get bogged down in quiddities, preventing effective action from being taken.
-
The debate became frustrating as the speakers focused on the quiddity of the terms rather than the main issue at hand.
Synonyms
11
6.8
A small complaint about unimportant details used to avoid the main point
1
7.7
Making very small, unimportant differences in an argument or discussion
1
9.8
A small unimportant objection that avoids the main point
A way of arguing that focuses on small unimportant differences and confuses the issue
Arguing about small unimportant details to avoid making a decision
Antonyms
How Trivial
Surface Forms
Morphology
quiddity = quidd + ity
Although formed with the suffix '-ity', the root 'quidd' is a Latin combining form not recognisable as a productive English base, so learners cannot derive the meaning from the parts.
Etymology
Quiddity comes from the Latin root quid meaning 'what' and originally meant 'whatness'. A helpful way to remember the argument sense is to imagine someone asking a tiny, picky 'what?' that pulls attention away from the main point, which is why a quiddity can mean a subtle or evasive objection.