pedantry
Look at other dictionaries:
Pedantry — Ped ant*ry, n. [Cf. F. p[ e]danterie.] The act, character, or manners of a pedant; vain ostentation of learning. This pedantry of quotation. Cowley. [1913 Webster] T is a practice that savors much of pedantry. Sir T. Browne. [1913 Webster] … The Collaborative International Dictionary of English
pedantry — Fowler (1926) observed that the term ‘is obviously a relative one; my pedantry is your scholarship, his reasonable accuracy, her irreducible minimum of education, and someone else s ignorance’. He referred to articles in his book and left the… … Modern English usage
pedantry — 1610s, from It. pedanteria, from pedante, or from Fr. pédanterie, from pédant (see PEDANT (Cf. pedant)) … Etymology dictionary
pedantry — [ped′ n trē] n. pl. pedantries [Fr pédanterie < It pedanteria < pedante: see PEDANT] 1. the qualities, practices, etc. of a pedant; ostentatious display of knowledge, or an instance of this 2. an arbitrary adherence to rules and forms … English World dictionary
pedantry — noun (plural ries) Date: 1612 1. pedantic presentation or application of knowledge or learning 2. an instance of pedantry … New Collegiate Dictionary
pedantry — noun /ˈpɛd.ən.tɹi/ a) An excessive attention to detail or rules. I dont want to listen to your pedantries anymore. b) An instance of such behaviour. Winston Churchill was once informed that one should not end a sentence with a preposition. His… … Wiktionary
pedantry — [[t]pe̱d(ə)ntri[/t]] N UNCOUNT (disapproval) If you accuse someone of pedantry, you mean that you disapprove of them because they pay excessive attention to unimportant details or traditional rules, especially in connection with academic subjects … English dictionary
pedantry — noun the pedantry in her argument has upset the flow of our discussion Syn: dogmatism, purism, literalism, formalism; overscrupulousness, scrupulousness, perfectionism, fastidiousness, punctiliousness, meticulousness; captiousness, quibbling,… … Thesaurus of popular words
pedantry — /ˈpɛdntri/ (say pedntree) noun (plural pedantries) 1. the character or practice of a pedant; an undue display of learning. 2. slavish attention to rules, details, etc.: *Certainly, if everyone spoke with absolute correctness and pedantry we might …
pedantry — pedant ► NOUN ▪ a person excessively concerned with minor detail or with displaying technical knowledge. DERIVATIVES pedantic adjective pedantically adverb pedantry noun. ORIGIN French pédant, probably related to PEDAGOGUE(Cf. ↑pedagogue) … English terms dictionary
