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
Judy Berman, Time, 29 May 2025
In the wrong hands, this could be too didactic and clumsy, but it’s deftly executed, and the integration of songs, drama, and dance is seamless—and often stunning.
—Daniel Dylan Wray, Pitchfork, 8 May 2025
Unfortunately, the question of how much worth is placed on an Israeli life versus a Palestinian one is answered mostly in words, and thus, in too direct (and perhaps too didactic) a fashion, when so much of the movie’s drama could have grounded it emotionally.
—Siddhant Adlakha, Variety, 11 Apr. 2025
Over the slow build of the season, character details emerge without need for much didactic exposition.
—David Sims, The Atlantic, 28 Mar. 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 3 Jul. 2025.
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didactic
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didactic
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