finicky
Americanadjective
adjective
-
excessively particular, as in tastes or standards; fussy
-
full of trivial detail; overelaborate
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of finicky
Explanation
You reject any vegetable that isn't yellow. You like basmati rice, but detest jasmine, Arborio, and brown. You dine at one restaurant, and you always order the same meal. You are a finicky eater — that is, you are quite particular about food. Fastidious, fussy, picky, persnickety: these are all synonyms for finicky, and they all suggest someone with extremely exacting tastes and habits, someone almost impossible to please. Finicky can also be used to describe something that demands a great deal of care and attention to detail — a finicky lock might require that you jiggle the key just so. Finicky generally conveys the sense that the person or thing it describes is quirky and pointlessly precise.
Vocabulary lists containing finicky
"A Sound of Thunder" by Ray Bradbury
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100 SAT Words Beginning with "F"
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Little Fires Everywhere
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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.
See Examples For:
As a finicky eater who happens to be queer, Black and disabled, I wouldn’t touch durian, duck tongues or most of the basket items on the Food Network TV show, “Chopped.”
From Salon ● Jun. 15, 2026
His first recommendation comes long before you board, during the finicky process of where to sit.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 5, 2025
Restaurants have struggled this year with rising costs for ingredients such as beef, scarce labor and more finicky customers.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 18, 2025
Watchdogs also caution that the math to determine whether bioenergy projects sequester or release carbon is complicated and finicky.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 30, 2025
When he was settled he opened the crate of strawberries and picked them over with finicky care.
From "The Heart is a Lonely Hunter" by Carson McCullers
In Thompson’s view, the Air Force is making a simple calculation: The B-52 costs far less to operate and maintain than the newer but finickier B-2.
From Seattle Times ● Jul. 24, 2020
Cease your practice of copying tour pros, who have turned golf into survival of the finickiest by adhering to preshot routines that violate loitering laws in most states.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 9, 2026
For instance, some languages, like Matses in Peru, oblige their speakers, like the finickiest of lawyers, to specify exactly how they came to know about the facts they are reporting.
From New York Times ● Aug. 28, 2010
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.
