finicky

adjective

fin·​icky ˈfi-ni-kē 

1

: extremely or excessively particular, exacting, or meticulous in taste or standards

a finicky eater

My teacher is finicky about spelling.

2

: requiring much care, precision, or attentive effort

a finicky recipe

… growing the finicky Pinot Noir grape …

—Kim Marcus

finickiness noun

Did you know?

If you’re a reader of a certain age (say, a Boomer, Gen Xer, or even a Xennial), you may remember cheeky television commercials featuring Morris, a finicky housecat who only eats a certain brand of cat food. (Morris is still featured on product labels.) Morris's tastes in cuisine are not only very particular, but very fine as well, and that's appropriate given the origin of finicky. The word came about as an alteration of finicking, itself an alteration of another adjective, finical. It's believed that finical derives from the adjective fine.

Synonyms

• careful
• nice
• persnickety
• picky
• particular
• fussy
• fastidious
• demanding
• choosy
• exacting
• pernickety [chiefly British]
• choosey
• finical
• delicate
• dainty
• meticulous
• selective

Examples of finicky in a Sentence

My teacher is finicky about grammar.

a complicated and finicky recipe

Recent Examples on the Web

Arabica is a notoriously finicky crop. —Alex Mayyasi, Saveur, 10 Sep. 2025

Natural dyes tend to be costlier and more finicky, less stable. —Alina Selyukh, NPR, 8 Sep. 2025

The same goes for why Kia didn’t replace the finicky and annoying setup with physical buttons, as its corporate sibling Hyundai did on the Ioniq 5 compact SUV earlier this year. —Mark Phelan, USA Today, 31 Aug. 2025

The kitchen needs to turn out three meals a day that are creative enough to draw in finicky locals, anodyne enough to satisfy an international clientele, and sturdy enough to survive the room-service gauntlet. —Helen Rosner, New Yorker, 31 Aug. 2025

Word History

Etymology

alteration of finicking

First Known Use

circa 1825, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Kids Definition

finicky

adjective

fin·​icky ˈfin-i-kē 

: very hard to please : fussy

a finicky eater

finickiness noun