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

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

Example Sentences

“The Drama” has proven controversial and has been criticized as too thinly written by some viewers and critics who want answers and meaning laid out in legible, didactic lessons built into the script.

From Salon • Apr. 9, 2026

It would never be mistaken for a dry lecture or a didactic pamphlet.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 13, 2026

Other somewhat more didactic or exposition-heavy passages include a professor giving a brief lecture about the persistent and pernicious British class system.

From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 2, 2025

"I guess what the show is saying, and we're never didactic about this stuff, is that Pierpoint and the wider capitalist enterprise turbocharge some of their worst instincts," says Kay.

From BBC • Oct. 5, 2024

On the way to the base Colonel Meecham announced to his sons in a calm, didactic voice that they were both in critical need of a haircut.

From "The Great Santini" by Pat Conroy