Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- adjective Characterized by a narrow, often ostentatious concern for academic knowledge and formal rules.
from The Century Dictionary.
- Of, pertaining to, or characteristic of a pedant or pedantry; overrating the importance of mere learning; also, making an undue or inappropriate display of learning; of language, style, etc., exhibiting pedantry; absurdly learned: as, a pedantic air.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- adjective Of or pertaining to a pedant; characteristic of, or resembling, a pedant; ostentatious of learning
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adjective Like a
pedant , overly concerned withformal rules andtrivial points of learning. - adjective Being
showy of one’sknowledge , often in aboring manner. - adjective Being
finicky orfastidious , especially withlanguage .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- adjective marked by a narrow focus on or display of learning especially its trivial aspects
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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Ha, true, but then we'd have to argue over, since it's not just normal pedantic but * super pedantic*, whether my argument-escape-hatch/weasel words 'pretty close' cover my ass.
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Egregious typos in pedantic language post = auto-pwn.
Matthew Yglesias » Health Care Plan Getting More Popular 2010
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Not two sentences into their answer the terms pedantic and didactic were employed with professorial authority.
Build Blog » A Vocabulary List for Architects Who Want to Get Things Built 2010
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Sorry, I was just being pedantic about the word pedantic, noticing **in general** how people use the term and their topsy-turvy sense of priorities seem to be.
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Ethan, the danger in being pedantic is that you have to set a good example.
Speaking of schadenfreude: Meanwhile, in the German elections « BuzzMachine 2005
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It must be confessed, however, that it is generally avoided in print, while the form that we have ventured to call pedantic is not uncommon.
Case. 1908
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The hatred of the pedantic is the characteristic sentiment of the time.
English Literature and Society in the Eighteenth Century Leslie Stephen 1868
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There is in a grave disposition, when carried to the point of stiffness and ill-grace toward women, something coarsely pedantic, that is unbecoming in great talents and ridiculous in lesser ones.
Led Astray and The Sphinx Two Novellas In One Volume Octave Feuillet 1855
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Not the least among its recommendations is, perhaps, that it is scholarly without being pedantic that is to say, that it aims at correctness without sacrificing the right effect of the whole to over-insistence on small details.
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These will include essays on contemporary fiction that are indeed a tad too scholarly (some might say "pedantic") or just too long for ordinary blog posts, as well as other surveys or discussionsofcritical books and articles onpost-1980 fiction.
Out of the Ashes 2010
tankexmortis commented on the word pedantic
Geez, none of you guys capitalized it even!
December 3, 2006
inkhorn commented on the word pedantic
Example: "Well, Lois, since you asked, I find this meatloaf rather shallow and pedantic."
December 14, 2006
john commented on the word pedantic
Wordie is like the house that pedantry built. It's a machine for with which to be pedantic. It puts the ped in pedantry.
December 31, 2006
sonofgroucho commented on the word pedantic
Maybe being pedantic is not necessarily a bad thing? Pedantry has just had a bad press in the past.
December 31, 2006
kaichi commented on the word pedantic
Wordie apparently doesn't hold on to capitalizations.
January 4, 2007
billifer commented on the word pedantic
So, John, can I put the antic in pedantic? :-D
January 5, 2007
sera commented on the word pedantic
"annoyingly proud of learning"
August 13, 2007
bilby commented on the word pedantic
"Sawcy pedantique wretch, goe chide Late schooleboyes."
- John Donne, 'Sunne Rising'.
August 24, 2009
milosrdenstvi commented on the word pedantic
Don't forget the sour prentices.
August 24, 2009
kingparton commented on the word pedantic
There is nothing so pedantic as pretending not to be pedantic. No man can get above his pursuit in life: it is getting above himself, which is impossible.
William Hazlitt, "On the Conversation of Authors"
November 15, 2011
egriton commented on the word pedantic
I am desperately trying to remember a word. I came across it in a novel about two years ago and recently wanted to use it in an article I was writing. Unfortunately, I couldn't remember it.
Its meaning is something like hair-splitting -- and a word close to its meaning is "cavillous". The word refers to distinctions that are excessive, perhaps pedantic, unnecessary or self-indulgent.
I vaguely recall that the word starts with a "d" or a "p". Any ideas?
Thanks!
September 20, 2013
bilby commented on the word pedantic
How about punctilious?
September 23, 2013
mohitanand commented on the word pedantic
adjective: marked by a narrow focus on or display of learning especially its trivial aspects
Professor Thompson was regarded as an expert in his field, but his lectures were utterly pedantic, focused on rigorous details of the most trivial conventions in the field.
October 19, 2016