pedantry, n. 1. (all in reference to one's learning) pretension, affectation, pomposity, pompousness, haughtiness, conceit, attitudinarianism; pedagogism, pedagogery, didacticism, preachiness, pedantism, pe-danticism, pedanticalness; bookishness, stuffiness, dryness, tediousness, tiresomeness, dullness.
2. precisionism, perfectionism, meticulousness, particularity, fastidiousness, finicalness, finicality; punctiliousness, scrupulosity, scrupulousness, exactness, exactitude, precision, preciseness, minuteness; sophistry, casuistry, quibbling, hairsplitting, Inf. nitpicking, pettifoggery.
3. formalism, literalism, rigidity, conformity, conventionality; unimaginativeness, uncreativity, uncrea-tiveness, unoriginality; narrow-mindedness, bigotry, dogmatism, positivism, hideboundness.
4. fine point, subtlety, punctilio, particular; nicety, delicacy, refinement.
peddle, v. 1. hawk, vend, sell, Sl. push, retail, market; go door-to-door, sell on commission; Inf. try to make a buck or dollar; tout one's goods, show one's wares.
2. deal out, pass out, dole out, dispose of, distribute, dispense, disseminate; sprinkle, scatter, strew, broadcast.
3. trifle, niggle, fribble, fiddle, fiddle around, fritter, fritter one's time away, idle, frivol, laze, waste time, loaf, daydream; piddle, dawdle, dillydally; procrastinate, put off.
peddler, n. hawker, cheap-jack, vendor, huckster, monger, seller, Sl. pusher, salesman, money changer, pedlar, pedler; packman, Inf. faker, Sl. duffer, rag-and-bone man, junk dealer, butter-and-egg man, costermonger, coster, Sl. shmatah salesman, rag dealer, Armenian rug peddler, medicine man, snake-oil salesman; higgler, itinerant, tinker; traveling salesman, door-to-door salesman, colporteur, Bible salesman, Fuller Brushman, Avon lady; merchant, dealer, pushcart entrepreneur, shopman.
pedestal, n. 1. base, support, foundation, rest, platform, understructure, bottom, foot; stand, pillar, column.
2. set or put on a pedestal idealize, glorify, exalt; extol, praise, praise to the skies, sing paeans to; treat like a Dresden doll, show great respect for; dematerial-ize, spiritualize, put a halo on; bow down to, worship, idolize, revere, adore, adulate, honor, ennoble.
pedestrian, n. 1. walker, nonrider, hiker, tramper, foot-traveler; perambulator, stroller, itinerant, pere-grinator, peripatetic, wanderer, roamer.
-adj. 2. walking, ambulatory, wandering; peripatetic, afoot, on foot.
3. spiritless, lifeless, without a spark of life, robotlike, unanimated; tiresome, boring, tedious, prosy, wearisome, Sl. yawn-making, Sl. draggy, plodding, uninteresting, like a cold or dead fish; unimaginative, uninspired, uncreative, without an idea in one's head, empty-headed, doltish; insipid, jejune, vapid, Sl. blah, stale, flat, as flat as stale beer or stale ginger ale; undistinguished, unimpressive, without merit, inferior, lacking distinction; colorless, wan, pale, gray, dim, dreary, fitting into the background; dull, prosaic, stodgy, commonplace, common as dirt, humdrum, trite, platitudinous, ordinary, banal, hackneyed, dull as dishwater; tepid, lukewarm, indifferent, Fr. comme ci comme qa, so-so, average, middling, mediocre; unexcited, unexciting, unadventuresome, afraid of one's own shadow, Sl. creepy; trivial, frivolous, piddling, unimportant, insignificant; everyday, matter-of-fact, oft-repeated, monotonous, stock, unvaried, unchanging, without a surprise in a carload, totally predictable.