fiddly
Americanadjective
adjective
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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:
But the display is tiny, the neural-band bracelet control is too fiddly and the glasses themselves make me look like a kid playing dress-up with her dad’s ’70s eyewear.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 12, 2025
Ally and Jay’s rom-com caricature is the cleverest subplot in the movie — the pair are heightened Hallmark Channel ingenues who like fiddly coffee orders, coordinated plaids and the same shade of taupe.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 5, 2025
“I’m more nervous about a random person messing with the inevitable stack of phones, laptops and tablets with fiddly chargers leaving them not charging,” Mr. Stricker said.
From New York Times ● Mar. 24, 2023
It's often touted as a useful training device - surgeons can safely learn how to perform delicate operations, and engineers can practise fiddly aircraft repairs.
From BBC ● Jan. 14, 2023
“This next one will impress them. When I call, start pumping the bellows, and whatever happens do not slow down, or speed up, or stop. There’s fiddly work involved.”
From "Norse Mythology" by Neil Gaiman
At the robot-powered US pizza-delivery company Zume, the fiddlier jobs, such as topping pizzas, are still done by humans.
From The Guardian ● Mar. 7, 2019
In response India is experimenting with fiddlier ways of deleveraging.
From Economist ● Jun. 5, 2014
The video promised a large amount of Wii U-specific content, and controls which placed some of the more peripheral, and fiddlier, aspects of Arkham City on the Wii U Gamepad's touch-screen.
From The Guardian ● Jun. 5, 2012
“It’s the fiddliest Open that I’ve played,” said McIlroy, who has played 12 previously.
From Washington Post ● Jul. 14, 2022
“It’s the fiddliest Open that I’ve played. It’s the only way I can really describe it,” McIlroy said.
From Seattle Times ● Jul. 14, 2022
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.
