1
as in choosy
hard to please
a picky cat who would only eat one particular kind of food, and only if it was served in his special dish
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in selective
tending to select carefully
she's picky, but she always finds the best quality in fresh meat and fish
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of picky
Eating like a child, Veit explains, was once understood to mean being overly excited and undiscriminating about food, not being picky.
—
Olga Khazan, The Atlantic, 17 Feb. 2026
Birds also can be quite picky about the quality of nyjer.
—Joan Morris, Mercury News, 16 Feb. 2026
Still, children with sensory needs, who may be even more likely to put things in their mouth and might be an incredibly picky eater, can have difficulty lowering their EBLLs.
—Jimmy Lovrien, Twin Cities, 16 Feb. 2026
My mother, a picky eater, cleaned her plate of every course, and even ate oysters and mushrooms for the first time in my life!
—Charlie Hobbs, Condé Nast Traveler, 16 Feb. 2026
See All Example Sentences for picky
Olga Khazan, The Atlantic, 17 Feb. 2026
Birds also can be quite picky about the quality of nyjer.
—Joan Morris, Mercury News, 16 Feb. 2026
Still, children with sensory needs, who may be even more likely to put things in their mouth and might be an incredibly picky eater, can have difficulty lowering their EBLLs.
—Jimmy Lovrien, Twin Cities, 16 Feb. 2026
My mother, a picky eater, cleaned her plate of every course, and even ate oysters and mushrooms for the first time in my life!
—Charlie Hobbs, Condé Nast Traveler, 16 Feb. 2026
See All Example Sentences for picky
Recent Examples of Synonyms for picky
Adjective
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Coming off a 6-11 season and with limited salary-cap space, the Kansas City Chiefs will have to be choosy when determining which of their free agents to bring back for 2026 and beyond.—
Jesse Newell,
New York Times,
20 Feb. 2026
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Be choosy about compost and soil amendments.—
Dr. Avishesh Neupane,
Hartford Courant,
7 Feb. 2026
Adjective
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In a statement late Monday, City Manager Kimberly Bizor Tolbert did not directly address the selective tours described in the emails but said the work was part of due diligence authorized by the council.—
Devyani Chhetri,
Dallas Morning News,
9 Mar. 2026
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The true foundation of her firm’s work comes from her decades inside one of the most selective admissions offices in the world.—
Maria Williams,
USA Today,
9 Mar. 2026
Adjective
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Ranunculus Another gorgeous-yet-finicky flower is the ranunculus.—
Cori Sears,
The Spruce,
10 Mar. 2026
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The stir-together crust takes mere minutes, and there’s no finicky custard to make.—
Josh Miller,
Southern Living,
7 Mar. 2026
Adjective
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The best way to attain them during this conjunction of Venus and Saturn in your financial zone would be to set careful guardrails around your spending.—
Tarot.com,
New York Daily News,
8 Mar. 2026
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No amount of sweeping or careful stepping keeps it at bay; shoes quickly collect a film of dust or thick mud.—
Katie Strasberg Rousso,
Southern Living,
7 Mar. 2026
Adjective
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While everyone was nice enough and ready to help when asked, the service is a bit more hands-off.—
Condé Nast,
Condé Nast Traveler,
12 Mar. 2026
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Each bonkers bit is a nice reminder not to take anything too seriously.—
Ben Travers,
IndieWire,
11 Mar. 2026
Adjective
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No other product is handed over to the government with such fussy and heavy-handed interference.—
Gideon Lewis-Kraus,
New Yorker,
14 Mar. 2026
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Heller notes that restraint matters too—excessive throw pillows can make a primary bedroom feel fussy.—
Jacorey Moon,
Architectural Digest,
12 Mar. 2026
Adjective
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There, Yanxiao began to realize how particular Liu’s approach to antiquity was.—
Chang Che,
New Yorker,
8 Mar. 2026
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The combination of the imagery and the operational context has prompted particular interest in the distinctive markings visible on the bombs, which differ from those typically seen on standard JDAM configurations.—
Bojan Stojkovski,
Interesting Engineering,
8 Mar. 2026
Adjective
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Francesca’s pinnacle Once a Regency world has implied there’s mass print culture capable of speedy and pervasive distribution of colored images, something as persnickety as vocabulary is probably beside the point.—
Kathryn VanArendonk,
Vulture,
11 Feb. 2026
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What’s more, some species are so persnickety that even low-water activity media won’t do the trick consistently.—
Elizabeth Anne Brown,
Scientific American,
20 Jan. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Picky.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/picky. Accessed 15 Mar. 2026.
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