Pedant Definition
pĕdnt
pedants
noun
pedants
A person who puts unnecessary stress on minor or trivial points of learning, displaying a scholarship lacking in judgment or sense of proportion.
Webster's New World
One who ostentatiously exhibits academic knowledge or who pays undue attention to minor details or formal rules.
American Heritage
A teacher characterized by insistence on exact adherence to a set of arbitrary rules.
Webster's New World
A schoolmaster.
Webster's New World
A person who is overly concerned with formal rules and trivial points of learning.
Wiktionary
Synonyms:
- scholastic
- bookworm
- wordspinner
- phrasemonger
- phrasemaker
- gongorist
- bluestocking
- precisian
- methodologist
- dogmatist
- doctrinaire
- formalist
- pedagogue
- walking encyclopedia
- egghead
Other Word Forms of Pedant
Noun
Singular:
pedant
Plural:
pedantsOrigin of Pedant
-
French pédant or Italian pedante (French) (from Italian) possibly from Vulgar Latin paedēns *paedent- present participle of *paedere to instruct probably from Greek paideuein from pais paid- child pedo–2
From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition
-
From Middle French pedant, pedante, from Italian pedante (“a teacher, schoolmaster, pedant”), of uncertain origin, traced by some sources to Latin paedagogans, present participle of paedagogare (= to teach, from Greek "paedagogein" = to instruct children). Confer French pédant.
From Wiktionary
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