Word.ws English Dictionary

angels dancing on the head of a pin

angels dancing on the head of a pin noun: the subject of arcane intellectual speculation—used as an example of a subject of enquiry in which the pursuit is of no value.

Noun

angels dancing on the head of a pin pl (plural only)

  1. (figuratively, plural, plural-only) The subject of arcane intellectual speculation—used as an example of a subject of enquiry in which the pursuit is of no value.
    • We are not talking about angels dancing on the head of a pin here.1965, United States Congress House Government Operations, Procurement of a Cryogenic Cooling System for Fighter Aircraft: Hearing, 89-1, June 8–9, 1965, page 47
    • …logically indistinguishable from the argument that because we do not know at what rate the angels dancing on the head of a pin are dying off…1995, Julian Lincoln Simon, The State of Humanity, page 358

Origin of angels dancing on the head of a pin

An allusion to the theological question, How many angels can dance on the head of a pin?—a question cited to debunk mediaeval angelology in particular, and scholasticism in general. The point is that explorative discussions that the discussants consider important can be academic in both senses of that word—not only arcane, but also irrelevant.

Questions about angels dancing on the head of a pin

What does angels dancing on the head of a pin mean?
Angels dancing on the head of a pin means the subject of arcane intellectual speculation—used as an example of a subject of enquiry in which the pursuit is of no value.
What part of speech is angels dancing on the head of a pin?
Angels dancing on the head of a pin is a noun.

Words near angels dancing on the head of a pin in the dictionary

  1. angeloyl
  2. angeloylgomisin
  3. angeloyls
  4. angels
  5. Angels Camp
  6. angels dancing on the head of a pin
  7. angels moving the furniture
  8. angels of death
  9. angels of mercy
  10. angels on horseback
  11. angels' advocates

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: angels dancing on the head of a pin (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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