pedant
a person who makes an excessive or inappropriate display of learning.
a person who overemphasizes rules or minor details.
a person who adheres rigidly to book knowledge without regard to common sense.
Obsolete. a schoolmaster.
Origin of pedant
1Other words for pedant
Other words from pedant
- ped·ant·esque, adjective
- ped·ant·hood, noun
Words Nearby pedant
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use pedant in a sentence
Call me a Limbaugh pedant, but Rush is on in the afternoon; has been for 22 years.
In a few years the girl he had married would be a plain and prickly little pedant—ill-bred besides—and he knew it.
Marriage la mode | Mrs. Humphry WardI have not wanted friends, even among strangers, who have defended me more strongly, than my contemptible pedant could attack me.
The Works Of John Dryden, Volume 4 (of 18) | John DrydenYes; but the Wagner sort of pedant would get entangled in his round of history—in his historical resemblances.
Friends in Council | Arthur HelpsAldus the younger, was a precocious scholar, of the pedant type, and under him the traditions of the family rapidly fell.
Printers' Marks | William Roberts
The man of routine, the mere pedant, the mere deprecator of mistakes, asks always for a precedent.
Edward Hoare, M.A. | Edward Hoare
British Dictionary definitions for pedant
/ (ˈpɛdənt) /
a person who relies too much on academic learning or who is concerned chiefly with insignificant detail
archaic a schoolmaster or teacher
Origin of pedant
1Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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