The phrase "a game of semantics" is correct and usable in written English.
It can be used when discussing the nuances of language or the interpretation of words and phrases, often implying that the argument is more about the meaning of words than the actual issue at hand.
Example: "The debate turned into a game of semantics, with each side arguing over the definition of key terms rather than addressing the main issue."
Alternatives: "a matter of wording" or "a dispute over definitions".
From there, it is largely a game of semantics.
Border security has become a game of semantics on Capitol Hill.
Ford denied that he had "played a game of semantics" when initially answering questions about his crack cocaine use, and insisted he was not an addict.
The next day, Kiffin adamantly said that was not the case — raising questions of whether he was lying, out of the loop or playing a game of semantics about what constituted a meeting.
Lindsey Group analyst Peter Boockvar dismissed the Fed's statement as a "game of semantics" and scoffed that the central bank "again tried to thread a needle by maintaining the market's expectations of a 2015 [interest rate] hike but at the same time giving us no clue as to when".
In the interview Wednesday, Lehman said Kean and Hamilton's statement that only one Saudi government employee was "implicated" in supporting the hijackers in California and elsewhere was "a game of semantics" and that the commission had been aware of at least five Saudi government officials who were strongly suspected of involvement in the terrorists' support network.
Now, it might sound like we're playing a dumb game of semantics here.
It might seem like a little game of semantics Jack is playing, but the distinction is vast.
John Maki, the Executive Director of the John Howard Association — the only non-partisan prison watchdog in Illinois — says it's a sordid game of semantics.
To pretend that another group won't replace ISIL once ISIL is defeated, through another decade of war in Iraq, perhaps, is simply playing a dangerous game of semantics.
He may play games of semantics, but it is common knowledge, not to mention the definition found in most dictionaries, that anti-Semitism refers to hostility toward Jews and not to the Semitic peoples as a whole.
