pedants
Overly precise people
Pedants are people who make excessive displays of learning or who insist rigidly on rules and minor details.
The word is almost always disparaging—a pedant cares more about technical correctness than substance or context: Grammar pedants will tell you never to split an infinitive.
The adjective is pedantic.
Senior university teacher
- lecturerOne who teaches formally
- educatorOne who imparts knowledge
- instructorOne who teaches skills
- academicianLearned society member
intellectual · researcher · theorist · philosopher · savant · pundit · guru · pedagogue
One who raises petty objections
- hair-splitterOne obsessing over minutiae
- faultfinderOne who criticizes constantly
- cavilerOne who nitpicks
- carperHabitual faultfinder
critic · pettifogger · captious · hypercritical · nitpicker · niggler · splitter · technicality
Focused on small elements
- preciseExactly correct, no error
- thoroughComplete in every detail
- conscientiousScrupulously careful and thorough
- diligentPersistently attentive to tasks
fastidious · painstaking · scrupulous · methodical · systematic · exacting · punctilious · careful
Self-proclaimed authority on everything
- smartassAnnoyingly glib person
- mansplainerMan who patronizingly over-explains
- fact-checkerOne who confirms accuracy
- proofreaderOne who corrects texts
copy-editor · corrector · schoolmarm · lecturer · finger-wagging · scolding · condescending · patronizing
professor
Senior university teacher
- lecturerOne who teaches formally
- educatorOne who imparts knowledge
- instructorOne who teaches skills
academician · intellectual · researcher · theorist · philosopher · savant · pundit · guru · pedagogue · didact
quibbler
One who raises petty objections
- hair-splitterOne obsessing over minutiae
- faultfinderOne who criticizes constantly
- cavilerOne who nitpicks
carper · critic · pettifogger · captious · hypercritical · nitpicker · niggler · splitter · technicality · semantics
detail-oriented
Focused on small elements
- preciseExactly correct, no error
- thoroughComplete in every detail
- conscientiousScrupulously careful and thorough
diligent · fastidious · painstaking · scrupulous · methodical · systematic · exacting · punctilious · careful · rigorous
know-it-all
Self-proclaimed authority on everything
- smartassAnnoyingly glib person
- mansplainerMan who patronizingly over-explains
- fact-checkerOne who confirms accuracy
proofreader · copy-editor · corrector · schoolmarm · lecturer · finger-wagging · scolding · condescending · patronizing · supercilious
- nitpickersfaultfinders, sticklers, hairsplitters, quibblers, perfectionists
- criticscritic, critics, criticizer, criticizers, faultfinder
- show-offsbraggarts, boasters, showboats, grandstanders, egotists
pedantspragmatists
Those valuing practical results
generalists · improvisers · visionaries · philistines · anti-intellectuals
pedantsnonconformists
Those defying established customs
free spirits · mavericks · iconoclasts · rebels · bohemians