pedantic
puh-DAN-tik/pəˈdæn.tɪk/
- 1Overly concerned with formal rules and trivial points of learning, in the way a pedant is.
The professor was so pedantic about citation format that students lost points for a misplaced comma.
Arguing over whether the century began in 2000 or 2001 seemed pedantic to everyone but Paul.
UsageOften pedantic about something: pedantic about spelling, pedantic about grammar.
- 2Inclined to display one's knowledge, often in a way that others find tiresome.
His pedantic lecture was crammed with Latin quotations that no one in the room could follow.
The essay's style is pedantic, piling up obscure references to prove how widely the author has read.
Similarbookish, pompous, pretentious
Practice
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Origin
Formed from pedant and the suffix -ic.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 1 fact
- Pedantic is formed from pedant and the suffix -ic. en.wiktionary.org