Verified answer

Pedantic means overly intellectual for the situation at hand. It gives the impression the person is showing off how much he or she knows.

His lectures were so pedantic that you needed a dictionary in one hand and a thesaurus in the other.

I asked him a simple question and he gave me a three-page response, using words I had never heard before. Finally, I said, "Stop being so pedantic."

Sentences are only pedantic with reference to the characterizations.

Owing to inclement weather conditions the match had to be abandoned (pedantic). = Rain stopped play (usual expression).