pedagogical
Americanadjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of pedagogical
First recorded in 1595–1605, pedagogical is from the Greek word paidagōgikós of a child's tutor. See pedagogue, -ical
Explanation
Anything that relates to teaching is pedagogical. If your teacher has pedagogical dreams all night long, even in sleep, his mind is in the classroom. The adjective pedagogical, pronounced "peh-duh-GAH-gi-cal," comes from the Greek word paidagōgikos meaning “teacher.” If it's pedagogical, it concerns teaching, from lesson plans to approaches to teaching, even how the classroom looks. In rooms where the teacher's pedagogical philosophy is that students learn better when they work collaboratively, desks may be pushed together so four students can sit in their groups.
Vocabulary lists containing pedagogical
The Catcher in the Rye
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"Simon's Saga," Vocabulary from Episode 5
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Big Science
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Rather than ban the new technology, Estonia mounted a high-stakes and seemingly paradoxical intervention, distributing free chatbots to nearly 20,000 students earlier this year and rethinking pedagogical methods.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 1, 2026
As Pierre Bourdieu warned, some of the most powerful forms of domination are symbolic and pedagogical.
From Salon ● Jun. 29, 2025
How does pedagogical authority operate in the classroom?
From Science Daily ● Sep. 19, 2023
Holder, the museum’s chair of education, explained that “egg carton” was pedagogical slang for a regimented space in which people of the same age all do the same thing.
From New York Times ● Sep. 7, 2023
Guides to English grammar were written as pedagogical steppingstones to mastery of Latin grammar, and they tried to shoehorn English constructions into the categories designed for Latin.
From "The Sense of Style" by Steven Pinker
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
