pedantic
“
The hatred of the pedantic is the characteristic sentiment of the time.
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American Heritage Dictionary (2)
- adjective Characterized by a narrow, often ostentatious concern for book learning and formal rules: a pedantic attention to details.
- Syntax Note Synonyms: pedantic, academic, bookish, donnish, scholastic
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.
Century Dictionary (1)
GNU Webster's 1913
WordNet (1)
Elsewhere on the web
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- In fact the learning of which they were proud was knowledge of the body of tradition on whose sanctity they insisted; their teaching was scholastic and pedantic, an endless citing of precedents and discussion of trifles. — The Life of Jesus of Nazareth
- The writing is seldom pedantic, the enthusiasm heartfelt, and the critical standards high. — Asimov's Science Fiction
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The hatred of the pedantic is the characteristic sentiment of the time.
— English Literature and Society in the Eighteenth Century -
-- pedantic, please don't worry too much about making your package pedantic-clean unless the tags really seem like a good idea.
— Planet Debian - "He is plain, pedantic, and poor!" — The Curse of the Pharaohs
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American Heritage Dictionary
Century Dictionary (1)
- from pedant + -ic. Cf. D. G. pedantisch = Swedish Danish pedantisk.
GNU Webster's 1913
WordNet
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Pronunciations
/ (pə-dănˈtĭk)/
ahd pronounces "pedantic"
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American Heritage Dictionary