pedantry

English

Alternative forms

• pædantry (obsolete)

Etymology

From Italian pedanteria, equivalent to pedant +‎ -ry. Compare also French pédanterie.

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /ˈpɛd.ən.tɹi/

• Audio (General South African):

  (file)

Noun

pedantry (countable and uncountable, plural pedantries)

1. An excessive attention to detail or rules.
   1. An instance of such behaviour.

      I don’t want to listen to your pedantries anymore.

      • 1855, Charles Kingsley, “The True and Tragical History of Mr. John Oxenham of Plymouth”, in Westward Ho!: Or, The Voyages and Adventures of Sir Amyas Leigh, Knight, […], volume I, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Macmillan & Co., →OCLC, page 209:

        [T]he southern court of the ballium had become a flower-garden, with quaint terraces, statues, knots of flowers, clipped yews and hollies, and all the pedantries of the topiarian art.

2. An overly ambitious display of learning.

Quotations

• 1695, A Reply to the Second Defence of the XXVIII Propositions, Said to Be Wrote in Answer to a Socinian Manuscript, London, page 3:

  I am adviſed to paſs by whatever does not concern the Cauſe, to bear the Imputation of affected Pœdantry, Ignorance and Arrogance.

Synonyms

• pedanticalness
• pedanticness

Related terms

• pedant
• pedantic
• pedantocracy

Translations

excessive attention to detail or rules

• Bulgarian: педантизъм (bg) m (pedantizǎm)
• Danish: pedanteri (da)
• Dutch: betweterigheid (nl) f, frikkerigheid
• Finnish: pikkutarkkuus, pedanttisuus (fi), saivartelu (fi)
• French: pédantisme (fr) m
• German: Pedanterie (de) f
• Greek: σχολαστικότητα (el) f (scholastikótita)
• Hungarian: pedantéria (hu)
• Icelandic: smámunasemi f, smásmygli f
• Italian: pedantismo (it) m
• Polish: pedanteria (pl) f
• Portuguese: pedantismo (pt) m
• Russian: педанти́чность (ru) f (pedantíčnostʹ), педанти́зм (ru) m (pedantízm)
• Swedish: pedanteri (sv) n

instance of being pedantic

• Finnish: viisastelu (fi), saivartelu (fi)
• Icelandic: smámunasemi f, smásmygli f
• Portuguese: pedantice f
• Spanish: pedantería (es) f

overly ambitious display of learning

• Dutch: pedanterie (nl)
• Finnish: viisastelu (fi), rikkiviisaus
• French: pédanterie (fr) f
• German: Pedanterie (de) f
• Greek: δοκησισοφία (el) f (dokisisofía)
• Hebrew: דקדוקי עניות (he) (dikdûkei aniyût)
• Korean: 현학 (hyeonhak)
• Portuguese: pedantismo (pt) m
• Spanish: pedantería (es) f

Further reading

• “pedantry”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “pedantry”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• “pedantry”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.