as in teacher
disapproving
a person who annoys other people by correcting small errors and giving too much attention to minor details
They found the professor to be a dull pedant more concerned with the intricacies of punctuation than the craft of writing.
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Recent Examples of pedant
As botanists and pedants will tell you, figs are technically a flower, not a fruit.
—
Emily Saladino, Bon Appetit Magazine, 20 Sep. 2025
Incidentally, for the pedants out there (WIRED salutes you), technically this is not a jet ski, but a personal watercraft, or PWC.
—WIRED, 18 Nov. 2023
As knowledge of Greek has become more exotic—the mark of pedants, nerds, and graduates of expensive schools—capturing the barbarism of ancient Greek, and of the ancient Greeks themselves, has become harder.
—Graeme Wood, The Atlantic, 2 Oct. 2023
Want to annoy an investing pedant?
—Spencer Jakab, WSJ, 13 Feb. 2023
True, big global history is not for pedants and must be selective to remain accessible.
—Walter Scheidel, Foreign Affairs, 19 Apr. 2022
The highest-energy moment comes when Rob Brydon and David Mitchell have a pedant off about Jeremy Clarkson’s firing.
—Bethy Squires, Vulture, 1 Jan. 2022
While its sister show Jeopardy is better known as a pedant's paradise (misspeaking or misspelling has long been known to sink contestants), every now and then Wheel of Fortune gets in on the action.
—Tyler Aquilina, EW.com, 1 Apr. 2021
Emily Saladino, Bon Appetit Magazine, 20 Sep. 2025
Incidentally, for the pedants out there (WIRED salutes you), technically this is not a jet ski, but a personal watercraft, or PWC.
—WIRED, 18 Nov. 2023
As knowledge of Greek has become more exotic—the mark of pedants, nerds, and graduates of expensive schools—capturing the barbarism of ancient Greek, and of the ancient Greeks themselves, has become harder.
—Graeme Wood, The Atlantic, 2 Oct. 2023
Want to annoy an investing pedant?
—Spencer Jakab, WSJ, 13 Feb. 2023
True, big global history is not for pedants and must be selective to remain accessible.
—Walter Scheidel, Foreign Affairs, 19 Apr. 2022
The highest-energy moment comes when Rob Brydon and David Mitchell have a pedant off about Jeremy Clarkson’s firing.
—Bethy Squires, Vulture, 1 Jan. 2022
While its sister show Jeopardy is better known as a pedant's paradise (misspeaking or misspelling has long been known to sink contestants), every now and then Wheel of Fortune gets in on the action.
—Tyler Aquilina, EW.com, 1 Apr. 2021
Recent Examples of Synonyms for pedant
Noun
-
Then one day, the teacher asked if anyone knew about the Holocaust.—
Romina Ruiz-Goiriena,
USA Today,
4 Oct. 2025
-
Verbatim bell hooks Writer and academic, teacher and activist.—
JSTOR Daily,
JSTOR Daily,
3 Oct. 2025
Noun
-
Joe Rao serves as an instructor and guest lecturer at New York's Hayden Planetarium.—
Joe Rao,
Space.com,
3 Oct. 2025
-
Previous instructors Vishnu Sinha from Columbia University and Berlinale Talents alumna Paromita Dhar are returning.—
Naman Ramachandran,
Variety,
3 Oct. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Pedant.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/pedant. Accessed 8 Oct. 2025.
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