pedantry

== English == === Alternative forms === pædantry (obsolete) === Etymology === From Italian pedanteria, equivalent to pedant +‎ -ry. Compare also French pédanterie. === Pronunciation === (UK, US) IPA(key): /ˈpɛd.ən.tɹi/ === Noun === pedantry (countable and uncountable, plural pedantries) An excessive attention to detail or rules. 1825, "Works" by Maria Edgeworth page 150 They had heard people call things pedantic, which they did not think were so ; for instance, a boy had once said that Harry himself was a pedant, for talking of the siege of Syracuse, and of the machines used there, because the boy knew nothing about them, and disliked reading. "Then you perceive," said his mother, "that the meaning of the word varies with the different degrees of knowledge of those who use it. I remember when it was thought pedantic for a woman to talk of some books, which are now the subject of common conversation. Sometimes old-fashioned learning, and sometimes useless learning, is called pedantry; and it is generally thought pedantic to produce any kind of learning that is so unusual, that it is not likely that the company is acquainted with it, or can be pleased by it. In short, pedantry may be said to be an ill-timed parade of knowledge." An instance of such behaviour. An overly ambitious display of learning. ==== Quotations ==== ==== Synonyms ==== pedanticalness pedanticness ==== Related terms ==== pedant pedantic pedantocracy ==== Translations ==== === Further reading === “pedantry”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC. William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin Eli Smith, editors (1895–1910), “pedantry”, in The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia: […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC. “pedantry”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.