fastidious

[fa-stid-ee-uhs, fuh-]

adjective

1. excessively particular, critical, or demanding; hard to please.

   a fastidious eater.

2. requiring or characterized by excessive care or delicacy; painstaking.

fastidious

/ fæˈstɪdɪəs /

adjective

1. very critical; hard to please

2. excessively particular about details

3. exceedingly delicate; easily disgusted

Other Word Forms

• fastidiousness noun
• fastidiously adverb
• hyperfastidious adjective
• hyperfastidiously adverb
• hyperfastidiousness noun
• nonfastidious adjective
• nonfastidiously adverb
• nonfastidiousness noun
• overfastidious adjective
• overfastidiously adverb
• overfastidiousness noun
• ultrafastidious adjective
• ultrafastidiously adverb
• ultrafastidiousness noun
• unfastidious adjective
• unfastidiously adverb
• unfastidiousness noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of fastidious¹

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of fastidious¹

C15: from Latin fastīdiōsus scornful, from fastīdium loathing, from fastus pride + taedium weariness

Synonym Study

See particular.

Example Sentences

But like her previous partners, he was arrogant and controlling—“yet another man who was fastidious and grumpy,” Ms. Meltzer writes.

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And its fastidious standards of excellence have never wavered.

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But it narrows some of the fastidious distancing that there's been between what had happened at the shut down News of the World and the Sun.

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The play, about a fanciful tour guide of a dull and stately English country house who runs into conflict with a factually fastidious official at the historic property, was almost immaterial.

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Pairing with Snoop helped put the fastidious chef and crafter in front of a younger, hipper audience, while the grandmotherly Stewart assisted in making the rapper approachable for a wider range of consumers.

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Related Words

• choosy 
• discriminating 
• exacting 
• finicky 
• fussy 
• squeamish