Definition of PEDAGOGICAL

Pedagogical, Pedagogy, and Pedagogue

Pedagogical and its cognates present us with an excellent example of how different words can come from the same root, retain an almost identical meaning, and yet take on distinctive connotations. Pedagogical, pedagogy, and pedagogue all come from the Greek paidagōgos, originally the word for a slave who brought children to school. But while pedagogical and pedagogy have meanings simply related to teaching or teachers (with no implied judgment), pedagogue has taken on a negative tone, often referring to a dull or overly formal teacher. A similar transformation has taken place with many of the pedant- words in English. A pedant originally denoted simply "a tutor," but now tends to mean "one who makes a show of knowledge." Pedantic formerly meant "relating to teaching," but now is more commonly used to mean "unimaginative or dull."

Did You Know?

Pedagogical, which has the somewhat less common spelling variant pedagogic, was coined in the early 17th century from a Greek adjective of the same meaning. That adjective, paidagōgikos, in turn derives from the noun paidagōgos, meaning "teacher." The English word pedagogue (which can simply mean "teacher" but usually suggests one who is particularly dull) derives from the same root. Though the words "educational" and "teacher" make the grade in most contexts, pedagogical and pedagogue are useful additions to the class.

Examples of pedagogical in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Teachers, by nature of our profession, are called to do so much more than merely transfer and impart information, and adding a firearm to the already overwhelming list of responsibilities would only hurt the pedagogical profession. — Rachel Epstein, Marie Claire, "8 Parkland Teachers on What They Really Think About Being Armed," 13 Feb. 2019 Famous for its taxidermy and pedagogical charts, Deyrolle is never too far from sight on the estate; its iconic educational posters hang throughout the property and are on sale in the shop, too. — Elizabeth Wellington, Vogue, "How a French Prince Is Saving the World From Tasteless Tomatoes," 17 Sep. 2018 But any approach that dictates uniformity fails to recognize that different pedagogical practices (including in grading) suit different disciplines and pedagogies. — Tom Solomon, Washington Post, "GPAs don’t really show what students learned. Here’s why.," 15 June 2018 With the new funding, the network will be able to expand to 500 more educational twinnings, and support the development of new pedagogical and curricular resources, online teacher training, branding and more. — Sun-Sentinel.com, "Jewish Agency to expand school-twinning program," 10 July 2018 By contrast, changes that did not cost very much but are hard to implement, such as changing pedagogical approaches or introducing short-term contracts for teachers, were associated with higher test scores for pupils. — The Economist, "Universal lessons," 5 July 2018 That pedagogical dialogue eventually resulted in the collective Tim Rollins & K.O.S. (Kids of Survival), which gained a level of fame in the New York art world in the ’80s and ’90s. — New York Times, "The Art of Staying Cool: 10 Can’t-Miss Summer Shows in New York," 4 July 2018 Colon merely has created a simplistic, and thus impotent, paper tiger here; the political and pedagogical force of her work would be far greater if her villain had at least a touch of complexity. — Chris Jones, chicagotribune.com, "'Tilikum' tells dark story of a captive orca at SeaWorld," 29 June 2018 The pedagogical divide mirrors a political one between conservative statists and liberal technocrats. — The Economist, "Reformists and traditionalists are at war over Russian schools," 26 May 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'pedagogical.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.