Pedantry (/ˈpɛd.ən.tri/ PED-en-try) is an excessive concern with formalism, minor details, and rules that are not important.[1][2]

"The Pedant" by caricaturist Thomas Rowlandson

Fowler's Concise Dictionary of Modern English (1926) recognised that the term pedantry was "relative" and subjective, stating "my pedantry is your scholarship, his reasonable accuracy, her irreducible minimum of education, and someone else’s ignorance".[3]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ New Oxford American Dictionary (3rd ed.). Oxford University Press. 2015. ISBN 9780199891535 – via Oxford Reference.
  2. ^ "pedantry". Cambridge Dictionary. Retrieved 20 July 2024.
  3. ^ Butterfield, Jeremy, ed. (2015). Fowler's Concise Dictionary of Modern English (3rd ed.). Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780191800979 – via Oxford Reference.