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Definition of pedantic - 3 dictionary results

pe⋅dan⋅tic

  [puh-dan-tik]
Use pedantic in a Sentence
–adjective
1. ostentatious in one's learning.
2. overly concerned with minute details or formalisms, esp. in teaching.
Also, pe⋅dan⋅ti⋅cal.

Origin:
1590–1600; pedant + -ic

Related forms:
pe⋅dan⋅ti⋅cal⋅ly, adverb
pe⋅dan⋅ti⋅cal⋅ness, noun

Synonyms:
2. didactic, doctrinaire.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To pedantic
pe·dan·tic   (pə-dān'tĭk)   
adj.  Characterized by a narrow, often ostentatious concern for book learning and formal rules: a pedantic attention to details.
pe·dan'ti·cal·ly adv.
Synonyms: These adjectives mean marked by a narrow, often tiresome focus on or display of learning and especially its trivial aspects: a pedantic writing style; an academic insistence on precision; a bookish vocabulary; donnish refinement of speech; scholastic and excessively subtle reasoning.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Pedantic

Pe*dan"tic\, Pedantical \Pe*dan"tic*al\, a. Of or pertaining to a pedant; characteristic of, or resembling, a pedant; ostentatious of learning; as, a pedantic writer; a pedantic description; a pedantical affectation. "Figures pedantical." --Shak.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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