Synonyms of pedantic

pedantic

adjective

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.

Synonyms & Similar Words

• scholarly
• literate
• intelligent
• cerebral
• didactic
• clever
• snobbish
• snooty
• brilliant
• pompous
• snobby
• academic
• educated
• intellectual
• academical
• hifalutin
• hyperintellectual
• high-toned
• erudite
• ostentatious
• high-minded
• grandiose
• scholastic
• polymathic
• bookish
• highfalutin
• high-hat
• affected
• professorial
• smart
• well-read
• inkhorn
• brainy
• lah-di-dah
• learned
• nerdy
• nerdish
• la-di-da
• la-de-da
• highbrow
• polyhistoric
• geeky
• intellectualistic
• cultured
• intellectualist
• polymath
• quick-witted
• lah-de-dah
• lah-dee-dah
• bright
• long-haired
• eggheaded
• longhair
• schooled
• highbrowed
• blue
• cultivated

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• ignorant
• nonintellectual
• lowbrow
• uneducated
• illiterate
• unlettered
• philistine
• anti-intellectual
• unread
• uncultured
• uncultivated

2

as in boring

causing weariness or lack of interest

I found the author's writing informative but dreadfully pedantic.

Synonyms & Similar Words

• boring
• tiring
• dull
• dry
• tiresome
• tedious
• prosaic
• pedestrian
• vapid
• jejune
• uninteresting
• derivative
• monotonous
• wearisome
• stodgy
• tame
• ponderous
• wearying
• stuffy
• dusty
• old
• weary
• dreary
• drab
• humdrum
• arid
• undramatic
• heavy
• numbing
• leaden
• platitudinous
• flat
• tired
• colorless
• bromidic
• mind-numbing
• unimaginative
• barren
• conventional
• jading
• ho-hum
• typical
• stereotyped
• drudging
• uninspired
• unoriginal
• ordinary
• usual
• imitative
• twice-told
• standard
• normal
• cliche
• platitudinal
• rote
• hackneyed
• ready-made
• old-fashioned
• clichéd
• canned
• cardboard
• routine
• banal
• cookie-cutter
• tried-and-true
• cliché
• obligatory
• trite
• stock
• old hat
• stale
• shopworn
• commonplace
• hack
• hackney
• timeworn
• musty
• cobwebby
• threadbare
• well-worn
• moth-eaten

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• amusing
• entertaining
• charming
• fascinating
• attractive
• diverting
• alluring
• beguiling
• enchanting
• entrancing
• enthralling
• spellbinding
• attracting
• interesting
• bewitching
• captivating
• provocative
• suspenseful
• mesmerizing
• involving
• engrossing
• intriguing
• tantalizing
• riveting
• engaging
• arresting
• exciting
• absorbing
• gripping
• stimulating
• original
• pioneering
• enlivening
• animating
• novel
• invigorating
• galvanizing
• new
• energizing
• unhackneyed
• fresh
• pathbreaking
• unclichéd
• trailblazing

Examples of pedantic in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The fundamental test of taste is in Bodet’s realization of the potentially absurd anachronistic element—the lives and fortunes of Manet and Baudelaire in the age of the smartphone, a conceit that could easily have turned goofy or pedantic. —Richard Brody, The New Yorker, 9 July 2024

Rita has a somewhat more codified and pedantic view of the divine — a view that blinds her to the simple beauties of the world. —David Ehrlich, IndieWire, 26 June 2024

When even the manufacturers sell the stocks explicitly as implements to permit an automatic rate of fire, the majority justices are being willfully pedantic to contradict them and the federal agency charged with regulating firearms on a technicality. —New York Daily News Editorial Board, New York Daily News, 17 June 2024

There could be, by the same token, a version that takes modern Renaissance fairs too seriously, splicing historical explanations with pedantic sound bites from pop-culture pundits. —Carrie Battan, The New Yorker, 15 June 2024

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