Word of the Day

: February 10, 2019

finicky

adjective FIN-ih-kee

What It Means

1 : extremely or excessively particular, exacting, or meticulous in taste or standards

2 : requiring much care, precision, or attentive effort

finicky in Context

The young boy was a finicky eater, and his parents found it challenging to come up with ideas for healthy meals that he would enjoy.

"The 1970s, '80s, and '90s electronic components that are inside most pinball machines are aging and finicky, with a shrinking pool of techs able to decipher the machines' precise workings." — Zane Razzaq, The MetroWest Daily News (Framingham, Massachusetts), 27 Dec. 2018

Did You Know?

You may be familiar with an advertising campaign featuring Morris, the finicky housecat who would only eat a certain brand of cat food. Morris's tastes in cuisine are not only very particular, but very fine as well, and that's appropriate given the origin of finicky. The word came about as an alteration of finicking, itself an alteration of another adjective, finical. It's believed that finical derives from the adjective fine. Finicking also gives us finick, a somewhat rare verb meaning "to put on airs" or "to dawdle about."