didactic
adjective
Richard C. LeineckerRobert B. HeilmanKirkus ReviewsPaul Lewis
Did you know?
We Will Teach You the Origin of Didactic
Didaktikós is a Greek word that means "apt at teaching." It comes from didáskein, meaning "to teach." Something didactic does just that: it teaches or instructs. Didactic conveyed that neutral meaning when it was first borrowed in the 17th century, and still does; a didactic piece of writing is one that is meant to be instructive as well as artistic. Parables are generally didactic because they aim to teach a moral lesson. Didactic now sometimes has negative connotations, too, however. Something described as "didactic" is often overburdened with instruction to the point of being dull. Or it might be pompously instructive or moralistic.
Examples of didactic in a Sentence
Lawrence W. Levine, The Unpredictable Past, 1993
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
—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
the poet's works became increasingly didactic after his religious conversion
Roxana Hadadi, Vulture, 25 June 2025
The film’s slavish dedication to its source material — the challenging of which would open its own can of worms — demands ignoring all potential complexity in favor of didactic conclusions.
—Siddhant Adlakha, Variety, 19 June 2025
Prose can do these things too, but the model is often more didactic, explanatory, and, at its worst, plodding.
—Rebecca Solnit
may 27, Literary Hub, 27 May 2025
This is, in large part, a refreshing break from the didactic tone of so many crime shows, although Frank does leave some compelling ideas insufficiently examined.
—Judy Berman, Time, 29 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for didactic
Cite this Entry
“Didactic.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/didactic. Accessed 5 Jul. 2025.
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didactic
adjective
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didactic
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