pedagogue
Americannoun
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a teacher; schoolteacher.
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a person who is pedantic, dogmatic, and formal.
noun
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a teacher or educator
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a pedantic or dogmatic teacher
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of pedagogue
1350–1400; Middle English pedagoge < Latin paedagōgus < Greek paidagōgós a boy's tutor. See ped- 1, -agogue
Explanation
Pedagogue is another name for "teacher," but one who is strict, stiff or old-fashioned. The word comes from the Greek pedo for "child" and agogos for "leader." A pedagogue leads people by teaching. The noun pedagogue, pronounced "PED-uh-gog," originally referred to "a slave who brings boys to school." Although the similar word pedagogy is the art of teaching, pedagogue has negative connotations. To call a teacher a pedagogue implies that he or she is "the teacher that time forgot," possibly using notes and handouts from twenty years ago, standing in that same spot, year after year, saying the same things, as students stare out the same windows.
Vocabulary lists containing pedagogue
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The Legend of Sleepy Hollow
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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.
In his blog "The Provoked Pedagogue", Mr Price wrote about life working at the high school in Denbigh, north Wales.
From BBC • Mar. 22, 2021
Pedagogue Daladier was one of the most silent members of the talkative Chamber of Deputies.
From Time Magazine Archive
Hardly less famed than expatriate Pedagogue Auer was the late Jen� de Szalatna Hubay, who stayed at home to teach other Hungarian fiddlers how to fiddle.
From Time Magazine Archive
The Displaced Pedagogue of U.S. education is the liberal arts college.
From Time Magazine Archive
With binoculars and wrist radios from the Pedagogue they kept in contact with the battle.
From Adaptation by Schoenherr, John
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.
