Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English homepage

Date: 1500-1600
Language: French
Origin: pédant, from Italian pedante, perhaps from Latin paedagogus; PEDAGOGY

pedant

 noun
     
ped‧ant [countable]
someone who pays too much attention to rules or to small unimportant details, especially someone who criticizes other people in an extremely annoying way:
'That's not exactly what it means.' 'Pedant.'
—pedantry noun [uncountable]
Definition from the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
Advanced Learner's Dictionary.

Dictionary pictures of the day
Do you know what each of these is called?
What is the word for picture 1? What is the word for picture 2? What is the word for picture 3? What is the word for picture 4?
Click on any of the pictures above to find out what it is called.

Explore our topic dictionary

Browse the dictionary