ISEE/SSAT Vocabulary BuilderWordsPpedantic
ISEE/SSAThard
pedantic
Meaning: overly concerned with minor rules, details, or displays of learning
pedantic in a sentence
How pedantic is used in real sentences:
The review became pedantic when it devoted three paragraphs to a misplaced comma.
His pedantic lecture on table manners turned a relaxed dinner into a lesson on obscure rules.
“Restoring those repetitions made his bravado crack, although a pedantic reviewer later complained that proper style forbade such inelegant echoes.”
— from the passage The Unsmoothed Voice
Synonyms for pedantic
Other words for pedantic — nitpicking, punctilious and fussy — carry the same meaning.
- nitpicking
- punctilious
- fussy
Antonyms of pedantic
Words that mean the opposite of pedantic:
- informal
- practical
- unpretentious
Where it comes from
From French pédant, meaning 'schoolmaster.'
Memory hook
PEDANTIC contains PEDANT, a rule-fussy teacher who dwells on minor details.