Philosophical Debates And Concepts

noun a person who is excessively concerned with minor details and rules or with displaying academic learning

• The pedant in the group always corrected people's grammar during meetings.
• Don't be such a pedant about the details, just enjoy the story.
• The pedant kept nitpicking everything I said, it was so annoying.
• Her perfectionism made her a pedant when it came to decorating her house.

noun an activity or exercise that requires mental effort and skill to solve or understand

• The process of solving complex mathematical equations requires a great deal of mental gymnastics.
• Trying to figure out the plot twists in that movie had my brain doing mental gymnastics.
• I can't believe she's trying to do mental gymnastics to justify her actions.
• His ability to come up with excuses on the spot is like watching mental gymnastics in action.