fuddy-duddy
Americannoun
plural
fuddy-duddies-
a person who is stuffy, old-fashioned, and conservative.
-
a person who is fussy or picayune about details; fussbudget.
adjective
-
stuffy, old-fashioned, and conservative.
-
fussy; picayune.
noun
Etymology
Origin of fuddy-duddy
First recorded in 1900–05; of obscure origin
Explanation
An old-fashioned, fussy person can be called a fuddy-duddy. You might accuse your best friend of being a fuddy-duddy if she prefers staying home drinking tea and reading on Saturday nights, instead of going dancing with you. A fuddy-duddy has no sense of humor and is disapproving and a bit pompous. Fuddy-duddies seem dull and conservative, overly careful, and critical of other people's decisions. While we know fuddy-duddy first appeared in print in the late 1800s, and that it originated in the United States, its origin is a mystery.
Vocabulary lists containing fuddy-duddy
O'Reilly's Lexicon of Epithets
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A Wind in the Door
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Bob Newhart (1929–2024) Tribute List
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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.
And not to be a fuddy-duddy, but I can think of many better uses, including using that desire to connect with people to motivate charity work, political organizing, or just throwing a dinner party.
From Salon • Jan. 19, 2025
Showing the BBC around his former stomping ground, Harold's Café, he expressed confidence his cardigan-wearing "fuddy-duddy" character would live on.
From BBC • Jul. 28, 2022
Spend a bit of time with any progressive teenager, and regardless of your trailblazing bona fides, you might quickly be reduced to a conservative fuddy-duddy.
From New York Times • Aug. 19, 2021
Dream movie moment: Cora, who sometimes seems a few scones short of a tea tray, wises up and leaves fuddy-duddy Robert for a dashing London financier played by Hugh Grant.
From Seattle Times • Sep. 10, 2019
You can lead your class all you want to with your silk-lined manners and your fuddy-duddy book-talk!
From The White Linen Nurse by Abbott, Eleanor Hallowell
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.
