fastidious
/fæsˈtɪdi.əs/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: 2.64 in modern English
14
Scrabble Score
10
Letters
4
Syllables
8
Unique Chars
Meaning
adj
Excessively particular, demanding, or fussy about details, especially about tidiness and cleanliness.
adj
Overly concerned about tidiness and cleanliness.
adj
Difficult to please; quick to find fault.
adj
Having precise requirements for nutrition and environment (chemical and physical); especially, being difficult to culture because of those requirements.
Example Sentences
- "He had at first tried to clean up as they ate, his fastidious nature kicking in, but Chris had told him to just stop, he was blocking the TV."
- "As she cleaned the room daily, she knew it was against his fastidious nature to bring or have food in his room."
- "His fastidious nature had been evident in his careful snipping of a customer's hair and now he guided his pencil with the same adroitness."
- ""If you are fastidious, clean previously used pots inside and out; if not, merely clean the outside (unless you are battling a pest infestation; then the inside will need scrubbing as well).""
- "You're too fastidious, and too indolent, and too rich."
- ""It's burn[t], M'sieur," said Marie Louise, politely, but decidedly, to the utter confusion of Mr. Billy, who was as mortified as could be at the failure of his dinner to please his fastidious little visitor."
Etymology
Borrowed from Latin fastīdiōsus (“passive: that feels disgust, disdainful, scornful, fastidious; active: that causes disgust, disgusting, loathsome”), from fastīdium (“a loathing, aversion, disgust, niceness of taste, daintiness, etc.”), perhaps for *fastutidium, from fastus (“disdain, haughtiness, arrogance, disgust”) + taedium (“disgust”). Cf. French fastidieux.
Inflected Forms
more fastidious (comparative)
most fastidious (superlative)