小词详解 | pedantic
外刊例句
Then came volumes of pedantic laws. Mr Memmert either bent them or complied as far as possible.
然后就是连篇累牍、细枝末节的法律。梅默尔特要么打擦边球,要么尽可能遵守。
——《经济学人》Pedantic and unwilling to display leadership in resolving or nullifying the political hurdles, both governments have been guilty of holding back the economic integration of the two Asian giants.
墨守陈规的两国政府不愿在化解或消除政治障碍上展现领导力,一直是妨碍两个亚洲巨人进行经济融合的元凶。
——《纽约时报》
基本释义
[adjective] giving too much attention to formal rules or small details
[形容词] 过分纠结于正式规则或小细节
深入解读
在莎士比亚时代,人们用pedant指学校的男老师,基本和其意大利语词源pedante同一个意思。但是到了16世纪末,pedant已经演变为专指卖弄细枝末节学问的人。其对应的形容词就是形容学究的pedantic。专注于细节本身并没有什么不妥,但是一个pedantic的人会搬出许多无关紧要的事实和细节,并过分纠结其中而忽视了事情的重点。
影视用例
He's a little pedantic, but he's an armchair revolutionary.
他有点迂腐,不过是纸上谈兵。
出自《灵书妙探》(Castle)第7季第8集。该剧讲述了一位罪案小说家帮助纽约警察局凶杀组破案的故事,至今播出八季,并于2012至2014连续三年蝉联人民选择奖最受欢迎罪案类剧集。
同近义词
donnish: intelligent, often in a way that is too serious
bookish: a bookish person enjoys reading books, especially serious books
fussy: not easily satisfied, or having very high standards about particular things
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