Pedant
/ˈpɛdənt/ adj, noun, verb
adj, noun, verb ·Moderate ·College level
Definitions
Noun
- 1 A person who makes an excessive or tedious show of their knowledge, especially regarding rules of vocabulary and grammar.
- 2 a person who pays more attention to formal rules and book learning than they merit wordnet
- 3 A person who is overly concerned with formal rules and trivial points of learning.
- 4 A teacher or schoolmaster. archaic
"I have in my youth oftentimes beene vexed to see a Pedant [tr. pedante] brought in, in most of Italian comedies, for a vice or sport-maker, and the nicke-name of Magister to be of no better signification amongst us."
Verb
- 1 To be or act as a pedant. humorous, rare
"[…] as any occasion of going behond^([sic – meaning beyond]) the sea with sombody, or pedanting in some Gentlemans house, &c., for clergy-employment I will accept of none."
Adjective
- 1 Pedantic. not-comparable
Example
More examples"The geometry teacher was a pedant."
Etymology
From Middle French pedant, pedante, from Italian pedante (“a teacher, schoolmaster, pedant”), associated with unrelated Italian pedagogo (“teacher, pedagogue”). Compare French pédant.