Pedantic
/pɪˈdæntɪk/adjective
Caring too much about small and unimportant details.
Tom is such a pedantic boss, he always points out the smallest mistakes in everybody's work.
Often appears as...
- pedantic about details
- overly pedantic
Usage tips
Disapproving
adjective
Showing off your knowledge with long words and complicated sentences.
In conversation, he was annoyingly pedantic, always trying to impress others with his vast vocabulary.
Often appears as...
- pedantic speech
- pedantic manner
Usage tips
Disapproving
adjective
Caring too much about small and unimportant details.
Tom is such a pedantic boss, he always points out the smallest mistakes in everybody's work.
Often appears as...
- pedantic about details
- overly pedantic
Usage tips
Disapproving
adjective
Showing off your knowledge with long words and complicated sentences.
In conversation, he was annoyingly pedantic, always trying to impress others with his vast vocabulary.
Often appears as...
- pedantic speech
- pedantic manner
Usage tips
Disapproving
Definition 1 of 2
Pro Tip 1/3Negative Connotation
The word 'pedantic' often implies that being detail-oriented is excessive and unwanted.
Her pedantic approach to editing overshadowed the story's creativity.
Pro Tip 2/3Criticism & Irritation
Describing someone as 'pedantic' can suggest you're irritated by their focus on trivia.
I wish he'd stop being so pedantic about my spelling errors.
Pro Tip 3/3Misunderstood Thoroughness
Sometimes 'pedantic' is mistaken for being thorough or meticulous, which can be positive.
Although he's pedantic, his careful nature has saved us from many errors.
Compare with
didacticdogmaticfussyobsessiveperfectionprecisepriggishpunctiliousscholar
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Video examples
Building a theater that...
there are all kinds of things that we architects need to learn how to do like managing contracts learning how to write contracts understanding procurement processes understanding the time value of money and cost estimation but I'm going to reduce this to the beginning of the process into three very pedantic
Video examples
Gary Kovacs: Tracking...
I go to work, I check email, I log onto a few more social sites, I blog, I check more news reports, I share some of those news reports, I go look at some videos, pretty typical day -- in this case, actually fairly pedantic --
Video examples
Building a theater that...
there are all kinds of things that we architects need to learn how to do like managing contracts learning how to write contracts understanding procurement processes understanding the time value of money and cost estimation but I'm going to reduce this to the beginning of the process into three very pedantic
Video examples
Gary Kovacs: Tracking...
I go to work, I check email, I log onto a few more social sites, I blog, I check more news reports, I share some of those news reports, I go look at some videos, pretty typical day -- in this case, actually fairly pedantic --
Example 1 of 2
Quote examples
Zoe Foster Blake
Australian Author
I'm pedantic about lip balm. I've been chomping through Lip Smackers since age 11. So the lip balm called Lips! is a personal favourite. I also really love the Properly Clean cleanser. Women are wearing primer, sunscreen and makeup, so a cleanser needs to work hard these days.
Quote examples
J. Maarten Troost
Dutch Writer
It is a remarkably easy thing to do, pointing out the faults of others and suggesting remedies or courses of action in an argumentative and pedantic sort of way, and I am still amazed that there are many people in the American media who are paid very big money to do this.
Quote examples
James D. Watson
American Scientist
Great wealth could make an enormous difference over the next decade if they sensibly support the scientific elite. Just the elite. Because the elite makes most of the progress. You should worry about people who produce really novel inventions, not pedantic hacks.
Quote examples
Arthur Schopenhauer
German Philosopher
For an author to write as he speaks is just as reprehensible as the opposite fault, to speak as he writes; for this gives a pedantic effect to what he says, and at the same time makes him hardly intelligible.
Quote examples
Bonnie Raitt
American Musician
A lot of political music to me can be rather pedantic and corny, and when it's done right - like Bruce Springsteen or Jackson Browne or great satire from Randy Newman, there's nothing better.
Quote examples
William Congreve
English Poet
Tis well enough for a servant to be bred at an University. But the education is a little too pedantic for a gentleman.
Quote examples
Niklaus Wirth
Swiss Scientist
A good designer must rely on experience, on precise, logic thinking; and on pedantic exactness. No magic will do.
Quote examples
Peter Baynham
Welsh Comedian
I was a pedantic child. I'd get really annoyed at the logic of small things that don't bother anyone else.
Quote examples
June Brown
English Actress
I'm absolutely pedantic about language; it must go back to my schools.
Quote examples
Desiderius Erasmus
Dutch Philosopher
Nothing is as peevish and pedantic as men's judgments of one another.
Quote examples
Zoe Foster Blake
Australian Author
I'm pedantic about lip balm. I've been chomping through Lip Smackers since age 11. So the lip balm called Lips! is a personal favourite. I also really love the Properly Clean cleanser. Women are wearing primer, sunscreen and makeup, so a cleanser needs to work hard these days.
Quote examples
J. Maarten Troost
Dutch Writer
It is a remarkably easy thing to do, pointing out the faults of others and suggesting remedies or courses of action in an argumentative and pedantic sort of way, and I am still amazed that there are many people in the American media who are paid very big money to do this.
Quote examples
James D. Watson
American Scientist
Great wealth could make an enormous difference over the next decade if they sensibly support the scientific elite. Just the elite. Because the elite makes most of the progress. You should worry about people who produce really novel inventions, not pedantic hacks.
Quote examples
Arthur Schopenhauer
German Philosopher
For an author to write as he speaks is just as reprehensible as the opposite fault, to speak as he writes; for this gives a pedantic effect to what he says, and at the same time makes him hardly intelligible.
Quote examples
Bonnie Raitt
American Musician
A lot of political music to me can be rather pedantic and corny, and when it's done right - like Bruce Springsteen or Jackson Browne or great satire from Randy Newman, there's nothing better.
Quote examples
William Congreve
English Poet
Tis well enough for a servant to be bred at an University. But the education is a little too pedantic for a gentleman.
Quote examples
Niklaus Wirth
Swiss Scientist
A good designer must rely on experience, on precise, logic thinking; and on pedantic exactness. No magic will do.
Quote examples
Peter Baynham
Welsh Comedian
I was a pedantic child. I'd get really annoyed at the logic of small things that don't bother anyone else.
Quote examples
June Brown
English Actress
I'm absolutely pedantic about language; it must go back to my schools.
Quote examples
Desiderius Erasmus
Dutch Philosopher
Nothing is as peevish and pedantic as men's judgments of one another.
Example 1 of 10
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