fastidious

adjective

fas·tid·i·ous | \fa-ˈsti-dē-əs,

fə-\

Definition of fastidious

1a : showing or demanding excessive delicacy or care fastidious attention to detail— Robert Evett

b : reflecting a meticulous, sensitive, or demanding attitude fastidious workmanship

c : having high and often capricious standards : difficult to please critics … so fastidious that they can talk only to a small circle of initiates— Granville Hicks

2 : having complex nutritional requirements fastidious microorganisms

3 archaic : scornful

Other Words from fastidious Synonyms & Antonyms Fastidious Has a Disgusting Past More Example Sentences Learn More about fastidious

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Fastidious Has a Disgusting Past

There's nothing offensive about fastidious workmanship, and yet the word fastidious traces to the Latin noun fastidium, meaning "aversion" or "disgust." "Fastidium" itself is probably a combination of the Latin words fastus, meaning "arrogance," and taedium, meaning "irksomeness" or "disgust."("Taedium" also gave us our "tedium.") In keeping with its Latin roots, fastidious once meant "haughty," "disgusting," and "disgusted," although those uses are now archaic or obsolete. The word came to be applied to someone who is squeamish or overly difficult to please, and later, to work which reflects a demanding or precise attitude.

Examples of fastidious in a Sentence

My mother had always been the most fastidious and organized of people—a wet ring left on her coffee table by a glass could drive her to distraction. — John B. Judis, New Republic, 14 Oct. 1996 "I'll stop off and get us a sandwich," said Matthew. … Tony, a fastidious eater, sighed. — Penelope Lively, City of the Mind, 1991 Though he prides himself on being hip, he is too fastidious to do anything dangerous or dirty. — Jay McInerney, Bright Lights, Big City, 1984 He is fastidious about keeping the house clean. She was too fastidious to do anything that might get her dirty.

Recent Examples on the Web

Choices here may reflect his gallery’s aesthetic: cogent, skewed, color-charged, fastidious, and sometimes darkly wacky. — BostonGlobe.com, "The week ahead: music, theater, art, and more," 13 July 2018 His colleagues are annoying misfits, described by their quirks, like the fastidious Fredrik Melander, who has a photographic memory, passionately loves his ugly wife, and spends too much time on the toilet. — Alice Bolin, Longreads, "The Daughter as Detective," 26 June 2018 Further, few religions are as centralized or as fastidious about record keeping as the Catholic Church. — Peter Smith, Philly.com, "Victims' advocates: Abuse not just a 'Catholic problem'," 25 June 2018 By the late 1940s, dozens of medical journal articles described people with colitis as immature, fastidious, mother-clinging obsessives. — Jim Carrier, STAT, "Lobotomies were once used to treat this gut disease, part of a shameful medical history," 12 June 2018 Within its six sprawling exhibition levels, flooded with streaming natural light, Torre will be a feast even for the most demanding and fastidious art connaisseur. — Tiziana Cardini, Vogue, "Touring Torre, the Impressive New Addition at Milan’s Fondazione Prada," 19 Apr. 2018 Off the shelf, any good kitchen knife will be sharp, but the fastidious construction process and attention to detail is what (supposedly) makes Mizuno’s superior. — Aaron Gulley, Outside Online, "Shimano Unveils New XTR 9100 Components," 29 May 2018 Would someone better credentialed or more fastidious dump out that water and boil fresh water to cook eggs? — Amiel Stanek, Bon Appetit, "A $50 (Kinda) Brunch You Can Make Even When You’re Extremely Hungover," 24 May 2018 The girl is Jay Barton, 14 when the book begins and living as a kind of second-class citizen with her rich, unscrupulous Uncle Bill, along with his fastidious, social-climbing wife and Bill’s pretty blond daughter, Michaela. — WSJ, "Children’s Books: Reaching for It," 18 May 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'fastidious.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.