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Pedant vs Hairsplitter - What's the difference?

pedant | hairsplitter |

As nouns the difference between pedant and hairsplitter

is that pedant is schoolmaster while hairsplitter is a person who makes extremely, possibly excessively, fine distinctions (who would separate something as fine as a hair into two pieces and distinguish them).

As an adjective pedant

is pedantic.

pedant

English

Noun

(en noun)
  • (archaic) A teacher or schoolmaster.
  • * , vol. 1 ch. 24:
    • I have in my youth oftentimes beene vexed to see a Pedant [tr. pedante''] brought in, in most of Italian comedies, for a vice or sport-maker, and the nicke-name of ''Magister to be of no better signification amongst us.
  • A person who emphasizes his/her knowledge through the use of vocabulary.
  • (label) A person who is overly concerned with formal rules and trivial points of learning.

    • Derived terms

    * pedantic * pedantry

    Usage notes

    * Do not confuse pedant' with '''pendant''' or ' pennant .

    See also

    * (wikipedia "pedant") *

    External links

    * * *

    Anagrams

    * English refractory feminine rhymes ----

    hairsplitter

    English

    Alternative forms

    * (l)

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A person who makes extremely, possibly excessively, fine distinctions (who would separate something as fine as a hair into two pieces and distinguish them).