1
as in scholarly
marked by or given to showing knowledge in a showy way
The writing was overly complex and pedantic, which made it nearly impossible to understand for anyone but a specialist. The speech was thoroughly researched and well structured, but too pedantic to appeal to a general audience.
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2
as in boring
causing weariness or lack of interest
I found the author's writing informative but dreadfully pedantic.
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of pedantic
If only a pedantic stance could ease Americans’ fears that health care coverage will be out of reach for them in 2026.
—
Boston Herald Editorial Staff, Boston Herald, 20 Dec. 2025
The pedantic director meticulously oversaw the entire construction, from perfecting the lighting in each apartment to testing the complex drainage system that collected the fake rain.
—Nathan Smith, Architectural Digest, 9 Oct. 2025
Instead of focusing on the defense industrial base, the upcoming national defense strategy, or preparing to face threats across the Indo-Pacific and Europe, Hegseth talked about fitness tests and haircuts, coming across as pedantic for a room of seasoned commanders, the staffer said.
—Anne Flaherty, ABC News, 30 Sep. 2025
Greengrass uses the scene where the bus becomes stationary as an example of conveying feelings without being pedantic.
—Tomris Laffly, Time, 6 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for pedantic
Boston Herald Editorial Staff, Boston Herald, 20 Dec. 2025
The pedantic director meticulously oversaw the entire construction, from perfecting the lighting in each apartment to testing the complex drainage system that collected the fake rain.
—Nathan Smith, Architectural Digest, 9 Oct. 2025
Instead of focusing on the defense industrial base, the upcoming national defense strategy, or preparing to face threats across the Indo-Pacific and Europe, Hegseth talked about fitness tests and haircuts, coming across as pedantic for a room of seasoned commanders, the staffer said.
—Anne Flaherty, ABC News, 30 Sep. 2025
Greengrass uses the scene where the bus becomes stationary as an example of conveying feelings without being pedantic.
—Tomris Laffly, Time, 6 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for pedantic
Recent Examples of Synonyms for pedantic
Adjective
-
Land acknowledgments, protest movements, scholarly conversations, the UN themed decade, and the Indigenous Literature category on Lit Hub all speak to that.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
25 Mar. 2026
-
Acuña contributed chapters in dozens of anthologies and scholarly texts and wrote numerous book reviews, several children’s books, scholarly articles and opinion pieces in academic journals, magazines, listservs and newspapers, including the Los Angeles Times.—
Dorany Pineda,
Los Angeles Times,
24 Mar. 2026
Adjective
-
Simply, Florida’s Pro Day was as boring as ever.—
Noah White,
Miami Herald,
28 Mar. 2026
-
Given a list, the sorts of things Americans are comfortable with AI doing tend to be impersonal or even boring tasks, as well as those that less directly impact them, like proofreading or searching online.—
Anthony Salvanto,
CBS News,
26 Mar. 2026
Adjective
-
The turbulence of the past year brings to mind the sourcing strain of the 2020 pandemic—and the ways companies became more legally literate almost overnight as a matter of survival.—
Kate Nishimura,
Sourcing Journal,
24 Mar. 2026
-
With the help of her best friend Tatum (Rose McGowan), boyfriend Billy (Skeet Ulrich), and cine-literate nerds Randy (Jamie Kennedy) and Stu (Matthew Lillard), Sidney sets out to determine who’s behind the mask.—
Declan Gallagher,
Entertainment Weekly,
3 Mar. 2026
Adjective
-
When swallowing becomes difficult, eating can feel tiring or uncomfortable.—
Sundeep Venkatesan,
The Conversation,
23 Mar. 2026
-
And adopting the mantle of cultural curmudgeon can get tiring.—
Anna Holmes,
The Atlantic,
11 Mar. 2026
Adjective
-
Rather than lean into the chaos the challenge seemed to demand, Jane went cerebral.—
H. Alan Scott,
MSNBC Newsweek,
30 Mar. 2026
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And the hour-long results that premiere on the platform Friday are a mix of the cerebral and silly that audiences have come to expect from the Problemista filmmaker and former Saturday Night Live writer.—
Mikey O'Connell,
HollywoodReporter,
27 Mar. 2026
Adjective
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The employees of Rockin’ Grandma’s roam the grounds of the retreat site, which boasts multiple structures, and are visited by a series of guest speakers whose lectures range from the merely dull to the truly Dada.—
Inkoo Kang,
New Yorker,
27 Mar. 2026
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Charvet’s ethos is about discretion, but the clothes are not dull.—
Marisa Meltzer,
Vanity Fair,
24 Mar. 2026
Adjective
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Flexible loads, intelligent storage, and advanced demand coordination should be treated as capacity resources in grid planning, with regulatory frameworks updated accordingly.—
Brian Barlow,
Fortune,
28 Mar. 2026
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This innovation signals a shift toward more intelligent, cooperative, and autonomous forms of warfare.—
Prabhat Ranjan Mishra,
Interesting Engineering,
28 Mar. 2026
Adjective
-
Season 2 features a laughably didactic arc in which a family earns too much to qualify for Medicaid and too little to pay their bill.—
Graham Hillard,
The Washington Examiner,
13 Mar. 2026
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And the violent scenes aren’t grotesque or didactic — think of Miles’ muted trumpet sound reconfigured as resurrection visuals, of his ability to play and stage ballads so well that their uptempo momentum moves into territories too macabre to mute.—
Los Angeles Times,
Los Angeles Times,
4 Mar. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Pedantic.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/pedantic. Accessed 2 Apr. 2026.
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