pedantic

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

His book, learned without being pedantic, reminds us how insistently earlier generations returned to the Revolution as a living argument—something to be invoked, revised and, at times, fought over.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 22, 2026

"We are not being pedantic, we are being extremely fair" when it comes to turning people around due to cross contamination, Taylor explains to BBC Radio Norfolk.

From BBC • Apr. 15, 2026

Byrne, on the other hand, gives a worthy performance that saves “Tow” from its own pedantic trappings and functions as a similarly fed-up complement to her character in “If I Had Legs I’d Kick You.”

From Salon • Mar. 22, 2026

“One can read entire histories of American car culture and find no mention of Japanese or Asian American involvement,” Wang writes — but that’s about as pedantic as “Cruising J-Town” gets.

From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 30, 2025

Too many connectives can make it seem as if an author is belaboring the obvious or patronizing the reader, and it can give prose a pedantic feel.

From "The Sense of Style" by Steven Pinker