pedantic
13
8.1
- adjective
- /pəˈdæn.tɪk/
:
pedante
- The teacher's pedantic approach to grammar made the lesson feel dry and overly detailed.
- poetic or pedantic
And that means they're a bookworm or maybe even a little pedantic.
- And that means they're a bookworm or maybe even a little pedantic.
- As I say, just out of just out of being pedantic.
- Without being too pedantic about this issue, it's a shame to use a word like issue after all the music we've heard.
Examples
-
Something about the quiet, pedantic way he said this gave Males a chill.
Fiction book (2000) -
Throughout this sequence, the reader's sympathy is squarely with Ethel and against the pedantic governess.
Academic text (2007) -
But so it was kind of a pedantic point.
-
So if I wanted to be, you know, pedantic, I could say that.
-
You both are rather pedantic.
-
We would not be well suited to each other; he is much too pedantic for me.
Academic text (1999) -
I know, this might seem a bit pedantic, but part of this discussion is philosophical.
Blog text (21) -
I dwell on all this not to be pedantic, I hope.
Academic text (1993) -
You are being ridiculously pedantic and making a lot of noise about nothing.
Blog text (28) -
Rayburton scowled and tried again, his voice taking on a decidedly pedantic tone.
Fiction book (1992)
Synonyms
106
4.4
Careful about small details and hard to please
63
6.9
More about theory or small details than practical use
4
9.8
Being very picky about small details
Like a university teacher who is formal and picky about small details
Very strict and formal, correcting small mistakes like a teacher
Being very careful about small details in a way that annoys others
Careful about small details and hard to please
Too focused on small rules and complex words that confuse people
Too academic and formal for general readers to understand
Antonyms
How Pedantic
Surface Forms
Morphology
Etymology
The word pedantic comes from an old word for a school teacher, pedagogue, which meant 'leader of children'. So a pedantic person is like a teacher who insists on small rules and tiny facts, and that's why the word means being too concerned with small details and rules.