stickler

American  

[stik-ler] / ˈstɪk lər /

noun

1. a person who insists on something unyieldingly (usually followed byfor ).

   a stickler for ceremony.

   Synonyms:

   perfectionist, purist, fanatic

2. any puzzling or difficult problem.

   Synonyms:

   mystery, riddle, puzzle

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stickler British  

/ ˈstɪklə /

noun

1. (usually foll by for) a person who makes insistent demands

   a stickler for accuracy

2. a problem or puzzle

   the investigation proved to be a stickler

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Etymology

Origin of stickler

First recorded in 1530–40; stickle + -er ¹

Example Sentences

Always the stickler about staying in character, she had not called me Nell since we left Chicago.

From Literature

When Claudius v1 came online, there were only a handful of co-workers in the Slack channel, and the bot, powered by large language model Claude 3.7 Sonnet, was a stickler for the rules:

From The Wall Street Journal

“I warn you, sir, I can be a stickler when it comes to my accommodations. I imagine you know the story of the princess and the pea?”

From Literature

You seem to be a stickler for detail, so that came as a surprise.

From MarketWatch

Darin Erstad, another former Angels star, has experience teaching young players as a college coach and would be a stickler for fundamentals and accountability.

From Los Angeles Times