pedantic
Americanadjective
-
ostentatious in one's learning.
-
overly concerned with minute details or formalisms, especially in teaching.
- Synonyms:
- doctrinaire, didactic
adjective
Other Word Forms
- pedantically adverb
- pedanticalness noun
- semipedantic adjective
- semipedantical adjective
- semipedantically adverb
- unpedantic adjective
- unpedantical adjective
Etymology
Origin of pedantic
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.
“At best they are being incredibly pedantic. At worst, intentionally daft.”
From Los Angeles Times
And the percentage of gold in the portfolio is always fixed at 1/7 — or, if you are pedantic, 14.29%.
From MarketWatch
None of this is pedantic, nor is it puffed up with moral outrage.
From Los Angeles Times
Nelis renders the professor a pompous and pedantic twit but not a heartless one.
From Los Angeles Times
Environmental films that are pedantic, prescriptive, or hold audiences by the collar to make them feel bad do more disservice than good, he says.
From BBC
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.
