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
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Be careful when handling debris that may have blown into your yard.—
CA Weather Bot,
Sacbee.com,
11 Jan. 2026
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These soft and chewy treats are the result of dozens of careful recipe tests.—
Lizzy Briskin,
Better Homes & Gardens,
10 Jan. 2026
Adjective
-
Boost Indoor Humidity Most peppers prefer higher-than-average humidity levels, but some pepper varieties are more finicky about humidity than others.—
Lauren Landers,
Better Homes & Gardens,
30 Dec. 2025
-
Wait for a dry, cold day to make the South's most finicky candy—then enjoy each ethereal, sugary bite.—
Josh Miller,
Southern Living,
25 Dec. 2025
Adjective
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The champion’s mindset—persnickety, hyper-critical, focused—is back.—
Frederick Dreier,
Outside,
23 Dec. 2025
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Because of that pressurization level, passengers will experience less stress on their bodies and get more oxygen while onboard, which can help to reduce that persnickety jet lag.—
Nicole Hoey,
Robb Report,
9 Dec. 2025
Adjective
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Stranger Things star Noah Schnapp wanted an appropriate goodbye with one Hawkins resident in particular as the sci-fi series concluded last month.—
Raechal Shewfelt,
Entertainment Weekly,
7 Jan. 2026
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Your fourth tip centers on diet quality, in particular cutting out ultraprocessed foods.—
Katia Hetter,
CNN Money,
6 Jan. 2026
Adjective
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The pool has a shallow area to splash around in, and chefs are happy to work around fussy palates.—
Chris Schalkx,
Condé Nast Traveler,
31 Dec. 2025
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For an even less fussy, truly local experience, there’s Dave’s Last Resort, one of South Florida’s favorite dive bars, where the seafood’s always fresh and the game’s always on.—
Skye Sherman,
Southern Living,
22 Dec. 2025
Adjective
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My picky kids specifically ask for this.—
Nellah Bailey McGough,
Southern Living,
2 Jan. 2026
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Vionic Kimmie Court Sneakers This Vionic Galia sneaker sale is so good that my picky 60-year-old mom and I are both running to checkout.—
Kyra Surgent,
InStyle,
29 Dec. 2025
Adjective
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As the night stretched on, a festive atmosphere took hold; one table whooped as an erstwhile fastidious bartender joined them for a shot and returned to the counter, high-fiving his colleagues.—
Jillian Steinhauer,
New Yorker,
14 Nov. 2025
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Obviously, fastidious double-entry bookkeeping reduces the margin for error, even in complicated accounts, but more than that, once accounts become commonplace, ordinary people begin to think of the world in terms of accounts.—
Big Think,
Big Think,
5 Nov. 2025
Adjective
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Philadelphia first tried the 24-year-old at center but eventually moved him to the wing, presumably because of his struggles in the faceoff circle (just 39 percent of draws won) and because the wing is a less demanding defensive position.—
Harman Dayal,
New York Times,
7 Jan. 2026
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Both must meet demanding performance standards, operate on efficient edge-compute systems, deliver provable safety, and scale in a commercially viable way.—
Jijo Malayil,
Interesting Engineering,
7 Jan. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Pernickety.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/pernickety. Accessed 13 Jan. 2026.
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