Pedant

A pedant is a person who is excessively concerned with minor details and rules, or with displaying academic learning. They often prioritize precise adherence to rules and conventions, even if they are trivial or unimportant in the context. This focus on minutiae often overshadows the bigger picture and can make them appear stuffy, overly formal, and out of touch with practicality. Their tendency to correct others and emphasize their own superior knowledge can be irritating and create a sense of intellectual superiority. Pedants are often perceived as lacking common sense and the ability to see the broader implications of a situation, becoming fixated on individual elements, leading to a myopic view of any subject. The behavior is characterized by excessive emphasis on formality and details, resulting in tedious and often unproductive interactions.

Pedant meaning with examples

• The professor was a notorious pedant, spending an entire lecture dissecting a misplaced comma in a student's essay, completely ignoring the quality of the overall argument, ultimately losing the students' attention in the process.
• During the historical reenactment, the pedant interrupted the presentation multiple times, correcting the actors on the exact type of buttons used on their costumes and the historical accuracy of their accents, derailing the audience's enjoyment.
• My friend refuses to engage in any discussion about film unless the participants are able to precisely define all the technical terminology, and their pedant behavior often leads to heated debates about seemingly insignificant points.
• The software developer, a notorious pedant, insisted on formatting every line of code according to a complex set of rules, even when it made the code harder to read, thus slowing down the team's progress to a crawl.
• At dinner, the pedant corrected the waitress on the pronunciation of 'quinoa', insisting on the proper inflection, despite the waitress clearly understanding the order, much to everyone else's embarrassment.