pedantic

English

WOTD – 31 March 2006

Alternative forms

• pedantick (obsolete)

Etymology

From pedant +‎ -ic.

Pronunciation

• enPR: pa-dăn'tĭk, IPA^(key): /pəˈdæn.tɪk/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Audio (General Australian):

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• Rhymes: -æntɪk

Adjective

pedantic (comparative more pedantic, superlative most pedantic)

1. Being overly concerned with formal rules and trivial points of learning, like a pedant.
2. Being showy of one’s knowledge, often in a boring manner.
   • 1838, Richard Hurrell Froude, John Henry Newman, John Keble, Remains of the Late Reverend Richard Hurrell Froude, page 416:

     The style is pedantic and reviewish: but I can easily fancy states of mind to which it may be no less salutary on that account.

Quotations

• 1884, J[ulius] F[erdinand] Räbiger, translated by John Macpherson, Encyclopædia of Theology (Clark’s Foreign Theological Library, volume XX), volume I, Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, page 79:

  In a special section Tittmann lays down a theological doctrine of method, which embraces theological discipline, that is, the arrangement of study according to a determined plan; theological architectonic, that is, the scientific treatment of theology; and theological pædantic, that is, practical theology.

• 1895, “BRETSCHNEIDER, Karl Gottlieb”, in The Home Encyclopædia: Compiled and Revised to Date from the Leading Encyclopædias, volume four, Chicago: Educational Publishing Co., page 1102:

  He gives an interesting account of his early childhood and school training, of the impression produced upon him by his father’s dignified bearing, and of the agricultural pursuits and piscatorial amusements by which the clerical and pædantic labors of the latter were diversified.

Synonyms

• pedantical
• (like a pedant): (informal, derogatory) anal-retentive, fussy, nit-picky
• (showy of one's knowledge): (sometimes applicable) nit-picky, ostentatious, pedagogical, pretentious
• See also Thesaurus:fastidious

Derived terms

• non-pedantic
• overpedantic
• pedantically
• pedanticate
• pedanticism
• pedanticize
• pedanticness
• pedantics
• unpedantic

 

Related terms

• pedant
• pedantical
• pedantry

Translations

like a pedant

• Bulgarian: педантичен (bg) (pedantičen)
• Catalan: pedant
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 教條／教条 (zh) (jiàotiáo)

• Czech: pedantský (cs), pedantický, puntíčkářský (cs)
• Danish: pedantisk
• Esperanto: pedimenta
• Estonian: pedantne
• Finnish: pedanttinen (fi), pikkumainen (fi), pikkutarkka (fi)
• French: méticuleux (fr)
• German: pedantisch (de)
• Greek: σχολαστικός (el) (scholastikós)
• Hungarian: pedáns (hu)
• Italian: pedante (it)
• Japanese: 杓子定規 (ja) (しゃくしじょうぎ, shakushi jyogi)
• Portuguese: pedante (pt)
• Romanian: meticulos (ro), pedant (ro)
• Russian: педанти́чный (ru) (pedantíčnyj)
• Spanish: pedante (es), pretencioso (es)
• Swedish: pedantisk (sv), petnoga (sv)

being showy of one's knowledge

• Catalan: pedant
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 掉書袋／掉书袋 (zh) (diàoshūdài), 舞文弄墨 (zh) (wǔwénnòngmò)

• Czech: mentorský
• Finnish: pedanttinen (fi), rikkiviisas (fi)
• French: pédant (fr) m
• Greek: δοκησίσοφος (el) (dokisísofos)
• Italian: pretenzioso (it)
• Japanese: 学者ぶった (がくしゃぶった, gakusha butta)
• Spanish: pedante (es) m or f

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Korean: ^{(please verify)} 현학적인 (hyeonhakjeogin)
• Mandarin: ^{(please verify)} 賣弄學問的;炫學者／卖弄学问的;炫学者
• Romanian: ^{(please verify)} pedant (ro)
• Serbo-Croatian: ^{(please verify)} pèdantan (sh), ^{(please verify)} пѐдантан

See also

• inkhorn

Further reading

• “pedantic”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• “pedantic”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

Anagrams

• depactin, pentacid, pentadic

Romanian

Etymology

From pedant +‎ -ic.

Adjective

pedantic m or n (feminine singular pedantică, masculine plural pedantici, feminine and neuter plural pedantice)

1. pedantic

Declension

Declension of pedantic

		singular			plural
		masculine	neuter	feminine	masculine	neuter	feminine
nominative/ accusative	indefinite	pedantic		pedantică	pedantici	pedantice
	definite	pedanticul		pedantica	pedanticii	pedanticele
genitive/ dative	indefinite	pedantic		pedantice	pedantici	pedantice
	definite	pedanticului		pedanticei	pedanticilor	pedanticelor