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 (zh), 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)

• 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 (zh), 掉书袋 (zh) (diàoshūdài), 舞文弄墨 (zh) (wǔwénnòngmò)

• Czech: mentorský m
• Finnish: pedanttinen (fi), rikkiviisas

• 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 (zh), 抠字眼 (zh) (kōuzìyǎn), 鑽牛角尖 (zh), 钻牛角尖 (zh) (zuānniújiǎojiān)

• Czech: pedantský (cs) f, pedantický m, slovíčkářský (cs) m

• 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, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. 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)

• Mandarin: ^{(please verify)} 賣弄學問的;炫學者
• 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, The Century Co., New York, 1911
• pedantic at OneLook Dictionary Search

Anagrams

• depactin, pentacid, pentadic