persnickety
Americanadjective
-
overparticular; fussy.
- Synonyms:
- finicky
-
snobbish or having the aloof attitude of a snob.
-
requiring painstaking care.
adjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of persnickety
1885–90; originally Scots, variant of pernickety
Explanation
Persnickety is a lively, fancy word for “fussy.” If you've sent your salad back to the kitchen three times, you might be a persnickety eater. The adjective persnickety sounds prickly like a porcupine, and persnickety people can indeed be sharp and prickly when they don't get things precisely as they wish. If you're persnickety about your coffee, you'll probably want to put the cream and sugar in yourself.
Vocabulary lists containing persnickety
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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.
He was known for regularly ambling by and commandeering these tour groups to show off whatever latest project he had going or demonstrate the precise and persnickety method he’d perfected for planting a tree.
From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 4, 2026
“Don’t go writing that she’s persnickety about her water,” Underwood joked.
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 6, 2025
Earlier, more persnickety machines would operate between 50% and 75% of the available time, vexing officials trying to schedule a facility’s users.
From Science Magazine • May 3, 2023
But for all its reputation as a persnickety pudding, our test-kitchen-approved version of floating islands breaks it down into simple steps.
From Salon • Nov. 3, 2022
The point here is to make your animal understand that its upstairs neighbour is exceptionally persnickety about territory.
From "Life of Pi" by Yann Martel
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.
