n.1 a person who insists on strict adherence to formal rules or literal meaning at the expense of a wider view.
2 a person who rates academic learning or technical knowledge above everything.
3 a person who is obsessed by a theory; a doctrinaire.
Derivatives:
pedantic adj. pedantically adv. pedantize v.intr. & tr. (also -ise). pedantry n. (pl. -ies).
Etymology: F p{eacute}dant f. It. pedante: app. formed as PEDAGOGUE