Synonyms of fastidious

fastidious

adjective

fa-ˈsti-dē-əs 

as in careful

hard to please

he is very fastidious about how he arranges his music collection, and woe to anyone who dares to mess around with it

Synonyms & Similar Words

• careful
• nice
• particular
• finicky
• exacting
• persnickety
• meticulous
• picky
• fussy
• finical
• dainty
• pernickety
• demanding
• choosy
• delicate
• selective
• finicking
• fussbudgety
• old-maidish
• critical
• discriminating
• punctilious
• discerning
• knowledgeable
• scrupulous
• insightful
• captious
• hyperfastidious
• hypercritical
• ultrafastidious
• squeamish
• painstaking
• overcritical
• faultfinding
• peevish
• prissy
• queasy
• touchy
• overdemanding
• petulant
• prim
• caviling
• carping
• prickly
• niminy-piminy

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• undemanding
• affable
• carefree
• lackadaisical
• flexible
• relaxed
• unfastidious
• lax
• low-pressure
• loose
• breezy
• unfussy
• lenient
• permissive
• uncritical
• laid-back
• devil-may-care
• happy-go-lucky
• undiscriminating
• indiscriminating

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of fastidious

Some birds, most notably crows, like to give their food a good dunking before eating, so there’s a possibility worms in the birdbath were left by these fastidious birds. — Joan Morris, Mercury News, 27 Apr. 2026

Lamarre is fastidious in covering all the key elements of the story that touched directly on Hartford. — Christopher Arnott, Hartford Courant, 27 Apr. 2026

The service At the health clinic, in the restaurants, and throughout the property, the service is deferential and fastidious without being overwhelmingly formal. — Condé Nast, Condé Nast Traveler, 22 Apr. 2026

Some of the drop-off locations were strikingly similar—luxury apartment buildings whose vast lobbies were tributes to beige and camel, each housing a blocky reception desk manned by a burly fellow with a fastidious beard. — Henry Alford, New Yorker, 30 Mar. 2026

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