didactic

[ dahy-dak-tik ]

/ daɪˈdæk tɪk /

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adjective

intended for instruction; instructive: didactic poetry.

inclined to teach or lecture others too much: a boring, didactic speaker.

teaching or intending to teach a moral lesson.

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

OTHER WORDS FOR didactic

2 pedantic, preachy, donnish, pedagogical.

See synonyms for didactic on Thesaurus.com

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Also di·dac·ti·cal .

Origin of didactic

1635–45; <Greek didaktikós apt at teaching, instructive, equivalent to didakt(ós) that may be taught + -ikos-ic

OTHER WORDS FROM didactic

di·dac·ti·cal·ly, adverbdi·dac·ti·cism, nounnon·di·dac·tic, adjectivenon·di·dac·ti·cal·ly, adverb

un·di·dac·tic, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use didactic in a sentence

Now, with the Brazilian author’s brand more valuable than ever, this didactic little handbook is being released in an elegant gift edition for fans in the United States.
Paulo Coelho’s ‘The Archer’ aims for profundity but misses|Ron Charles|November 11, 2020|Washington Post
It assumes that all adults are mature—and therefore it hates didacticism, it hates the idea of guidance and moral instruction.
Alain de Botton on the Benefits of Religion Without God|The Daily Beast|March 10, 2012|DAILY BEAST
But it should be remembered that literature never thus becomes a weapon for reform or a piece of didacticism or propaganda.
The Literature of Ecstasy|Albert Mordell
It early lost favor because of its bald didacticism, and for the last century has been practiced only occasionally.
Short Story Writing|Charles Raymond Barrett

The only legitimate purpose of the short story is to amuse, and didacticism in literature is always inartistic.
Short Story Writing|Charles Raymond Barrett
One obvious characteristic of this generation is the didacticism which is apt to worry us.
English Literature and Society in the Eighteenth Century|Leslie Stephen
No page is uninstructive, but it would be misleading to suppose the book even tinctured with didacticism.
The Children of the Poor|Jacob A. Riis

British Dictionary definitions for didactic

didactic

/ (dɪˈdæktɪk) /

adjective

intended to instruct, esp excessively

morally instructive; improving

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

Derived forms of didactic

didactically, adverbdidacticism, noun

Word Origin for didactic

C17: from Greek didaktikos skilled in teaching, from didaskein to teach

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

didactic

OTHER WORDS FOR didactic

Origin of didactic

OTHER WORDS FROM didactic

Words related to didactic

How to use didactic in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for didactic

Derived forms of didactic

Word Origin for didactic