didactic

American  

[dahy-dak-tik] / daɪˈdæk tɪk /

Also didactical

adjective

1. intended for instruction; instructive.

   didactic poetry.

2. inclined to teach or lecture others too much.

   a boring, didactic speaker.

   Synonyms:

   pedagogical, donnish, preachy, pedantic

3. teaching or intending to teach a moral lesson.

4. (used with a singular verb) didactics, the art or science of teaching.

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didactic British  

/ dɪˈdæktɪk /

adjective

1. intended to instruct, esp excessively

2. morally instructive; improving

3. (of works of art or literature) containing a political or moral message to which aesthetic considerations are subordinated

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• undidactic
  adjective
• nondidactically
  adverb
• didactically
  adverb
• didacticism
  noun
• nondidactic
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of didactic

First recorded in 1635–45; from Greek didaktikós “apt at teaching, instructive,” from didakt(ós) “that may be taught, teachable” (from didáskein “to teach”) + -ikos -ic

Explanation

When people are didactic, they're teaching or instructing. This word is often used negatively for when someone is acting too much like a teacher. When you're didactic, you're trying to teach something. Just about everything teachers do is didactic: the same is true of coaches and mentors. Didactic is often used in a negative way. If you heard that a movie is overly didactic, that's probably not good. Most people want to see a story and be entertained when going to the movies, and if it feels like the movie is just telling you what to think, that's didactic in a bad way.