didactic

di·dac·tic

adj \dī-ˈdak-tik, də-\

Definition of DIDACTIC

1

a : designed or intended to teach b : intended to convey instruction and information as well as pleasure and entertainment <didactic poetry>

2

: making moral observations

— di·dac·ti·cal \-ti-kəl\ adjective

— di·dac·ti·cal·ly \-ti-k(ə-)lē\ adverb

— di·dac·ti·cism \-tə-ˌsi-zəm\ noun

Examples of DIDACTIC

1. <the poet's works became increasingly didactic after his religious conversion>
2. Slaves related human as well as animal trickster tales; they told Bible stories, explanatory tales, moralistic and didactic tales, supernatural tales and legends. —Lawrence W. Levine, The Unpredictable Past, 1993
3. For two decades, many Americans, including some early advocates of the Vietnam intervention, have been relentlessly didactic, extracting cautionary lessons from Vietnam. —George F. Will, Newsweek, 22 May 1989
4. —the trappings, one might say—of a didactic and resolutely pious Victorian sensibility in the service of an anarchic imagination. —Joyce Carol Oates, The Profane Art, 1983

Origin of DIDACTIC

Greek didaktikos, from didaskein to teach

First Known Use: 1658

Related to DIDACTIC

Synonyms: sermonic, homiletic (or homiletical), moralistic, moralizing, preachy, sententious

Related Words: dogmatic (also dogmatical), prescriptive; admonishing, admonitory, cautionary; advisory, enlightening, instructive; holier-than-thou, self-righteous

[+]more[-]hide

Rhymes with DIDACTIC

apractic, atactic, climactic, galactic, syntactic