Kim Marcus
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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 in the early 19th century as an alteration of the synonymous finicking, itself a 17th century alteration of another synonym, finical, which in turn is a late 16th century coinage likely derived from the adjective fine.
Synonyms of finicky
Examples of finicky in a Sentence
Josh Miller, Southern Living, 7 Mar. 2026
Solving the dead zone issue Laser communication is finicky.
—Mrigakshi Dixit, Interesting Engineering, 4 Mar. 2026
Fruit trees, in particular, can be quite finicky and difficult to manage.
—Emily Hayes, Martha Stewart, 3 Mar. 2026
An end to an overblown row As finicky and technical as the topic of compression ratios may be to the casual F1 fan, the furore surrounding their policing in the last two months has been a perfect example of F1 politicking.
—Luke Smith, New York Times, 28 Feb. 2026
See All Example Sentences for finicky
Cite this Entry
“Finicky.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/finicky. Accessed 9 Mar. 2026.
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