fastidious
Americanadjective
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excessively particular, critical, or demanding; hard to please.
a fastidious eater.
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requiring or characterized by excessive care or delicacy; painstaking.
adjective
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very critical; hard to please
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excessively particular about details
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exceedingly delicate; easily disgusted
Synonym Usage
See particular.
Other Word Forms
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fastidiousnessnoun
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hyperfastidiousnessnoun
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nonfastidiousnessnoun
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overfastidiousnessnoun
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ultrafastidiousnessnoun
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unfastidiousnessnoun
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hyperfastidiousadjective
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nonfastidiousadjective
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overfastidiousadjective
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ultrafastidiousadjective
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unfastidiousadjective
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fastidiouslyadverb
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hyperfastidiouslyadverb
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nonfastidiouslyadverb
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overfastidiouslyadverb
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ultrafastidiouslyadverb
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unfastidiouslyadverb
Etymology
Origin of fastidious
First recorded in 1375–1425; late Middle English, from Latin fastīdiōsus “squeamish,” from fastīdi(um) “lack of appetite, disgust” (perhaps from fastu(s) “pride, conceit” + -tīdium, combining form of taedium tedium ) + -ōsus -ous
Explanation
If you want to describe a person who insists on perfection or pays much attention to food, clothing and cleanliness, the right word is fastidious. Fastidious is a funny-sounding adjective from the Latin fastidium "loathing" that has several equally strange-sounding synonyms — persnickety, fussbudgety, finicky and punctilious. Fussy and hard to please will also do the trick. Fastidious is occasionally used as a compliment to describe someone whose attention to detail gives them good organizing abilities, but it is usually used as a disapproving term.
Vocabulary lists containing fastidious
100 Words to Make You Sound Smart
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Grade 11, List 2
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Behave Yourself! Vocabulary for Good, Bad, and Indifferent Conduct
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
She was fastidious, using the company’s laboratory to analyze the tannins and colors of grapes in different parcels of the vineyard to craft specific types of wine, just as she had been taught in Bordeaux.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 28, 2026
Right now in Los Angeles it’s Wes Week, with multiple tributes to the career of filmmaker Wes Anderson, known for his fastidious visual style, melancholy longing and nerd-chic aesthetic.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 8, 2026
If there is a consistency to his work, it is that of cool, fastidious stylishness, in which the particulars of site, client and program were the dominant factors, and not the personality of the architect.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 28, 2025
It’s as fastidious as a desk clerk, with everything gridded and in shades of greige.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 13, 2025
There—and note the nice rising tricolon at the very outset— you can see a precise shaping of the speaker’s relationship with the audience, and a fastidious, slightly bogus, self-abasement.
From "Words Like Loaded Pistols" by Sam Leith
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
