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 (AU)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -æntɪk

Adjective

pedantic (comparative more pedantic, superlative most pedantic)

1. Like a pedant, overly concerned with formal rules and trivial points of learning.
2. Being showy of one’s knowledge, often in a boring manner.
3. Being finicky or fastidious, especially with language.

Synonyms

• (like a pedant): (informal, derogatory) anal-retentive, fussy, nit-picky
• (knowledge-peacock): (sometimes applicable) nit-picky, ostentatious, pedagogical, pretentious
• (linguistically affected): fussy, nit-picky, inkhorn
• See also Thesaurus:fastidious

Related terms

• pedant
• pedantry

Translations

like a pedant

• Catalan: pedant
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 教條／教条 (zh) (jiàotiáo), 教条 (zh) (jiàotiáo)

• Czech: pedantský (cs) f, pedantický m, puntíčkářský m
• Danish: pedantisk
• Esperanto: pedimenta
• Finnish: pedanttinen (fi), pikkumainen (fi), pikkutarkka (fi)
• French: méticuleux (fr)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Greek: σχολαστικός (el) (scholastikós)
• 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)

being showy of one's knowledge

• Catalan: pedant
• Chinese:

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

• Czech: mentorský m
• Finnish: pedanttinen (fi), rikkiviisas
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• French: pédant (fr)
• Greek: δοκησίσοφος (el) (dokisísofos)
• Japanese: 学者ぶった (がくしゃぶった, gakusha butta)
• Spanish: pedante (es)

being finicky with language

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 摳字眼／抠字眼 (zh) (kōuzìyǎn), 抠字眼 (zh) (kōuzìyǎn), 鑽牛角尖／钻牛角尖 (zh) (zuān niújiǎojiān), 钻牛角尖 (zh) (zuānniújiǎojiān)

• Czech: pedantský (cs) f, pedantický m, slovíčkářský (cs) m
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Finnish: pedanttinen (fi), sanatarkka, kirjaimellinen (fi)
• French: pointilleux (fr)
• Greek: σχολαστικός (el) (scholastikós)

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

• Estonian: ^{(please verify)} pedantne
• French: ^{(please verify)} pédant (fr) m, ^{(please verify)} pédante (fr) f
• German: ^{(please verify)} pedantisch (de)
• Korean: ^{(please verify)} 현학적인 (hyeonhakjeogin)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• 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
• Spanish: ^{(please verify)} cursi (es), ^{(please verify)} maniático (es), ^{(please verify)} pedante (es), ^{(please verify)} puntilloso (es)

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