Main Entry: pe·dan·tic

Pronunciation: \pi-ˈdan-tik\

Function: adjective

1 : of, relating to, or being a pedant

2 : narrowly, stodgily, and often ostentatiously learned

3 : unimaginative, pedestrian

Main Entry: pe·dan·tic

Pronunciation: \pi-ˈdan-tik\

Function: adjective

Etymology: formed in English c.1600, from pedant (q.v.) + -ic . The Fr. equivalent is pédantesque . Perhaps first attested in John Donne's "Sunne Rising," where he bids the morning sun let his love and him linger in bed, telling it, "Sawcy pedantique wretch, goe chide Late schooleboyes."

1 : of, relating to, or being a pedant

2 : narrowly, stodgily, and often ostentatiously learned

3 : unimaginative, pedestrian

Synonyms: abstruse, arid, didactic, doctrinaire

Usage: The tactic was designed to puncture his arrogance—so evident in the way he attempted to belittle other people and in the pedantic manner in which he tried to control the questioning.
Quotable quote: A good designer must rely on experience, on precise, logic thinking; and on pedantic exactness. No magic will do. (Niklaus Wirth)