persnickety

per·snick·e·ty

adj \pər-ˈsni-kə-tē\

Definition of PERSNICKETY

1

a : fussy about small details : fastidious <a persnickety teacher> b : having the characteristics of a snob

2

: requiring great precision <a persnickety job>

— per·snick·e·ti·ness \-nəs\ noun

Examples of PERSNICKETY

1. <as she got older, she got more and more persnickety>
2. <lacked the patience to deal with such persnickety tasks as hanging wallpaper>

Origin of PERSNICKETY

alteration of pernickety

First Known Use: 1915

Related to PERSNICKETY

Synonyms: choosy (or choosey), dainty, delicate, demanding, exacting, fastidious, finical, finicking, fussbudgety, fussy, nice, old-maidish, particular, pernickety [chiefly British], finicky, picky

Antonyms: undemanding, unfastidious, unfussy

Related Words: hyperfastidious, overdemanding, ultrafastidious; discerning, discriminating, selective; insightful, knowledgeable; captious, carping, caviling (or cavilling), critical, faultfinding, hypercritical, overcritical; careful, meticulous, painstaking, punctilious, scrupulous; queasy (also queazy), squeamish; peevish, petulant, prickly, touchy; niminy-piminy, prim, prissy

Near Antonyms: affable, breezy, carefree, devil-may-care, happy-go-lucky, lackadaisical, laid-back, low-pressure, relaxed; flexible, lax, loose; lenient, permissive; uncritical; indiscriminating, undiscriminating

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Rhymes with PERSNICKETY

pernickety