persnickety

adjective

per·snick·e·ty | \ pər-ˈsni-kə-tē

\

Definition of persnickety

1a : fussy about small details : fastidious a persnickety teacher

b : having the characteristics of a snob

2 : requiring great precision a persnickety job

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Did You Know?

Persnickety people like things neat and tidy, but the etymology of persnickety doesn't provide the kind of clean, clear explanation that appeals to the fastidious. Persnickety was first documented in English in the late 19th century as an alteration of pernickety, a word that has the same meaning. Pernickety goes back to the early 1800s, but from there, the word's history gets messy. Some say pernickety might be from a child's version of particular; others, that the nick part came from association with knick-knack. Or perhaps the Latin prefix per-, meaning "thoroughly," played a role. But it's all conjecture-no one knows for sure.

Examples of persnickety in a Sentence

as she got older, she got more and more persnickety lacked the patience to deal with such persnickety tasks as hanging wallpaper

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Dictionary Entries near persnickety

persistent vegetative state

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Time Traveler for persnickety

The first known use of persnickety was in 1889

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More Definitions for persnickety

persnickety

adjective

English Language Learners Definition of persnickety

US, informal + disapproving : giving a lot of attention to details that are minor or not important

See the full definition for persnickety in the English Language Learners Dictionary

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