Synonyms for pedantic
- adjective
Most common
picky fussy nit-picky fastidious scholarly bookish pretentious hair-splitting
Synonyms by meaning
Adjective
1. Nit-picky — being overly concerned with formal rules and trivial points of learning, like a pedant
nit-picky, anal-retentive informal, fussy, picky, finicky informal, fastidious
2. Bookish
3. Pretentious — tending to show off one’s knowledge, often in a tiresome manner
pretentious, pedagogical, paedagogical UK, ostentatious, priggish
Other
Definitions
- adj. 1
Being overly concerned with formal rules and trivial points of learning, like a pedant.
- adj. 2
Tending to show off one’s knowledge, often in a tiresome manner.
Related words
Example sentences
- picky I hate dealing with children who are picky eaters.
- fussy Kalman's son started to get a bit fussy and tired.
- fastidious He's very fastidious when it comes to booking trips.
- scholarly Israeli historian Ilan Pappe wrote many scholarly works.
Popularity over time
| Word | 1850 → 2019 | Trend |
|---|---|---|
| pedantic | falling | |
| picky | rising | |
| fussy | rising | |
| fastidious | steady | |
| scholarly | rising |
Use in printed books, per decade from 1850 to 2019.
By length
- 4 letters
- dull1
- 5 letters
- picky2, fussy2
- 7 letters
- bookish2, finicky3, mincing2, donnish
- 8 letters
- academic4, priggish
- 9 letters
- scholarly3
- 10 letters
- scholastic3, fastidious4, pedantical
- 11 letters
- pretentious3, pedagogical5
- 12 letters
- ostentatious4, paedagogical
The small number after each word is its number of syllables (picky2 = 2 syllables).
In other languages
- Français
- pédant
- Italiano
- pedante
- Español
- pedante
- Deutsch
- pedantisch