pedantry

American  

[ped-n-tree] / ˈpɛd n tri /

noun

• pedantries
  plural

1. the character, qualities, practices, etc., of a pedant, especially undue display of learning.

2. slavish attention to rules, details, etc.

3. an instance of being pedantic.

   the pedantries of modern criticism.

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pedantry British  

/ ˈpɛdəntrɪ /

noun

1. the habit or an instance of being a pedant, esp in the display of useless knowledge or minute observance of petty rules or details

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• pedantries
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of pedantry

First recorded in 1575–85, pedantry is from the Italian word pedanteria. See pedant, -ry

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Explanation

You know that person who is always interrupting other people, correcting their grammar or their facts? That's pedantry, or inappropriately showing off your knowledge. The noun pedantry refers to the behavior of a pedant, which comes from the French word pédant, meaning “schoolmaster.” While it is a schoolmaster's job to ensure that students learn, someone who is guilty of pedantry just seems to brag, using his or her knowledge to get attention or seem better educated than the people around him or her.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

pedantry pedantries

Such pedantry is perhaps why Malaysian durians have earned a special place on the Chinese table.

From BBC ● Jan. 10, 2026

Jovin’s journey is narrated in brief vignettes that highlight her own dogged buoyancy and the competitive pedantry of the people she meets.

From Washington Post ● Jul. 26, 2022

A windowless chamber is for dwelling on the consequences of your pedantry.

From New York Times ● Oct. 7, 2021

The Big Day is technically Chance the Rapper’s debut album, although this designation is a farcical bit of marketing pedantry even by current standards.

From Slate ● Jul. 29, 2019

This logician would be unbearably pedantic, but there is a grain of good taste in the pedantry.

From "The Sense of Style" by Steven Pinker

He was an observational genius whose main talent was for exposure — exposure of the predictable opponent and exposure of pedantries, and he treated both as pretty much the same thing.

From Washington Post ● Dec. 13, 2022

There is a withering crossfire of pedantries in nearly all academic discussions of slavery and American blacks.

From Time Magazine Archive

But the pedantries and affectations of this wonderful society seem to have made no immediate impression upon La Rochefoucauld, whose early years were those of the young nobleman devoid of all apparent intellectual curiosity.

From Three French Moralists and The Gallantry of France by Edmund Gosse

In those days," says Warton, "ecclesiastics and schoolmen presumed to dictate to kings and to give rules for administering states, drawn from the narrow circle of speculation, and conceived amid the pedantries of a cloister.

From Game and Playe of the Chesse A Verbatim Reprint of the First Edition, 1474 by William Caxton

The writer seems to me as yet unspoiled by classic studies and the pedantries of imitation.

From Sketches and Studies in Italy and Greece, Third series by John Addington Symonds

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