I have in my youth oftentimes beene vexed to see a Pedant brought in, in most of Italian comedies, for a vice or sport-maker, and the nicke-name of Magister to be of no better signification amongst us.
disapproval If you say that someone is a pedant, you mean that they are too concerned with unimportant details or traditional rules, especially in connection with academic subjects. I am no pedant and avoid being dogmatic concerning English grammar and expression. someone who pays too much attention to rules or to small unimportant details, especially someone who criticizes other people in an extremely annoying way (pédant, from pedante, perhaps from paedagogus; PEDAGOGY)
disapproval If you think someone is pedantic, you mean that they are too concerned with unimportant details or traditional rules, especially in connection with academic subjects. His lecture was so pedantic and uninteresting. paying too much attention to rules or to small unimportant details pedantic about
Of or pertaining to a pedant; characteristic of, or resembling, a pedant; ostentatious of learning; as, a pedantic writer; a pedantic description; a pedantical affectation
Pedantic is comes from the french [pédant] and Italian [pedante], and probably originated from the Greek [paiduein] meaning "to instruct " The word originally meant a holder of a degree or school master, but has since become pejorative to mean a person who presents his knowledge pretentiously or to excess It is also used to describe those who hold leaning from books to such a vaunted status that they forsake practical logic and common reasoning [back]
adj - observing strict adherence to formal rules or literal meaning at the expense of a wider view This can also refer to the author's tone, as overly scholarly and academic