logomachy

His florid vocabulary — he has casually dropped words like logomachy — sounds official without actually saying much.

Sweeping the subject-matter clear of all logomachies, he lets the light of common day fall upon it.

But a greater champion than William was needed to wipe away what seems to the world the cobwebs of mediæval logomachy.

Gradually, from their pressure upon his spirit, he grew conscious of the outcome—they would not be content with logomachies; the end might be death.

The debate thus turns on a question of terminology—that is to say, on a vain and barren logomachy.