as in careful
hard to please
an Oxford don who's definitely a pernickety old chap
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Recent Examples of pernickety
Perhaps this pernickety attention to detail is just the next logical step after years of falsification?
—
Raven Smith, Vogue, 9 Dec. 2020
Raven Smith, Vogue, 9 Dec. 2020
Recent Examples of Synonyms for pernickety
Adjective
-
But Eliasen is careful not to let scope creep derail initial implementations.—
Christopher McFadden,
Interesting Engineering,
12 Sep. 2025
-
Be careful when handling debris that may have blown into your yard.—
CA Weather Bot,
Sacbee.com,
11 Sep. 2025
Adjective
-
Arabica is a notoriously finicky crop.—
Alex Mayyasi,
Saveur,
10 Sep. 2025
-
Natural dyes tend to be costlier and more finicky, less stable.—
Alina Selyukh,
NPR,
8 Sep. 2025
Adjective
-
But Wilson is in his comfort zone as ever with Anderson, playing Francis’s persnickety dedication to the trip’s itinerary with his typical generosity.—
Joe Reid,
Vulture,
12 June 2025
-
What would the notoriously persnickety Corbitt say about those bold additions?—
Libby Monteith Minor,
Southern Living,
17 May 2025
Adjective
-
During World War I, between shifts as an emergency ambulance driver in France, Richardson calculated how the local weather would evolve over six hours, starting with the atmospheric conditions provided by weather balloon observations on a particular morning in 1910.—
Zack Savitsky,
Quanta Magazine,
15 Sep. 2025
-
Playing an instrument, in particular, engages every facet of your brain.—
Ayana Underwood,
SELF,
15 Sep. 2025
Adjective
-
Also, the Jackpot Roll at enso sushi will satisfy the fussiest pescatarians, as will the Poke Bowl surrounded by edamame and kaiware sprouts.—
David Weiss,
Forbes.com,
13 Sep. 2025
-
Instead, those ambitions have been stifled—partly because the university is a fussy place and partly because Harold is just too weird to fit in.—
Jeremy Gordon,
The Atlantic,
12 Sep. 2025
Adjective
-
Whether your dog is a picky eater or has specific health requirements, The Farmer’s Dog creates a personalized meal plan that’s delivered straight to your door.—
Kasey Caminiti,
USA Today,
12 Sep. 2025
-
Moyes takes his time assessing and signing off on targets and is notoriously picky.—
Patrick Boyland,
New York Times,
4 Sep. 2025
Adjective
-
Competition arrived in May, when the Rosewood Amsterdam opened its doors in the former Palace of Justice after a fastidious 10-year renovation that reportedly cost hundreds of millions of dollars.—
Julie Belcove,
Robb Report,
27 July 2025
-
This is true of people who don’t bathe and also people who are fastidious about bathing and douse themselves in cologne, and everyone else in between.—
R. Eric Thomas,
Chicago Tribune,
29 June 2025
Adjective
-
On the other extreme is the argument that the dynamic is a matter of other factors, such as the types of work women choose; maternity disruptions to careers; less willingness on the whole to work long hours or more physically demanding positions; and poorer negotiation skills.—
Erik Sherman,
Forbes.com,
17 Sep. 2025
-
The study frames smoke-drying as a deliberate and technically demanding mortuary innovation among tropical hunter-gatherers.—
Kaif Shaikh,
Interesting Engineering,
16 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Pernickety.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/pernickety. Accessed 17 Sep. 2025.
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