pedantic
adjective
pe·dan·tic
| \ pi-ˈdan-tik
\
\
Definition of pedantic
1
: of, relating to, or being a pedant
a pedantic teacher
2
: narrowly, stodgily, and often ostentatiously learned
a pedantic insistence that we follow the rules exactly Far worse, he was pedantic, pernickety, letting nothing inaccurate or of uncertain meaning go by—not an aphrodisiac quality.— Kingsley Amis
3
: unimaginative, dull
Pedantic song choices don't help any. Only 2 out of 10 songs stray from the most common classic-rock fodder.— Jim Farber
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Other Words from pedantic
pedantically
\ pi-ˈdan-ti-k(ə-)lē
\
adverb
\
adverb
Examples of pedantic in a Sentence
It may seem pedantic to harp on what looks like mere procedure, but this is one case where the process is the forest.
— Hendrik Hertzberg, New Yorker, 29 May 2000
Yet not since Kenneth Roberts has anyone written of early New England life in such vivid and convincing detail. (The minor inaccuracies will stir only the pedantic.)
— Annie Proulx, New York Times Book Review, 28 Apr. 1991
What I'm objecting to is that picture books are judged from a particular, pedantic point of view vis-à -vis their relation to children—and I insist that a picture book is much more.
— Maurice Sendak, Caldecott & Co., 1988
She is looking for the will, or for the diary; always looking for herself in history, the self the pious, pedantic Tolstoyans would disinherit and deny. …
— Elizabeth Hardwick, Bartleby in Manhattan and Other Essays, (1962) 1984
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Recent Examples on the Web
Warren’s stump speech is disciplined and on message; her superpower is the ability to explain issues in simple terms; some critics find her style pedantic. — Los Angeles Times, "The debate Democrats have waited for: Joe Biden vs. Elizabeth Warren," 29 Aug. 2019 Miller often launches into pedantic arguments with others in the White House, citing lengthy, arcane statistics that he mentally stores like munitions. — al, "How Stephen Miller controls Trump’s immigration policy," 18 Aug. 2019 Miller often launches into pedantic arguments with others in the White House, citing lengthy, arcane statistics that he mentally stores like munitions. — Author: Nick Miroff, Josh Dawsey, Anchorage Daily News, "Stephen Miller has singular control of Trump’s immigration policy," 17 Aug. 2019 Gonzalo Thought, a deadening, pedantic reinterpretation of Marxism, would spread to acclaim and worldwide revolution. — Rachel Nolan, Harper's magazine, "A Jagged Scrap of History," 24 June 2019 The Oulipo, a diverse if clannish guild that has somehow managed to survive for fifty-eight years, has included both major writers and pedantic hobbyists, and inspired work along the entire range of its members’ capabilities. — Luc Sante, Harper's magazine, "A Crew of Variegated Weirdos," 10 Jan. 2019 That said, the main objection to the Newseum’s decision isn’t pedantic. — Tunku Varadarajan, WSJ, "The Enemy of the T-Shirt," 6 Aug. 2018 Or when Alvy interrupts a pedantic professor in a movie line—lecturing his date on Marshall McLuhan—by bringing the actual Marshall McLuhan out from behind a sign to set the man straight. — Vogue, "The 55 Best Romantic Comedies of All Time," 1 Feb. 2019 This is true in the slightly pedantic sense that every algorithm makes decisions of some sort, and some of those will have ethical consequences. — James Vincent, The Verge, "Global preferences for who to save in self-driving car crashes revealed," 24 Oct. 2018These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'pedantic.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
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