Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A person who fusses over trifles.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A nervous, fidgety person.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun a person who thinks excessively about unfortunate things that might happen; one who is excessively concerned about matters of trifling importance.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun One who complains or fusses a great deal, especially about unimportant matters; a fusspot

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun thinks about unfortunate things that might happen

Etymologies

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Examples

  • In the past, the President notoriously spent immense amounts of time poring over the, leading one exasperated congressman to describe her as a "fussbudget" (defined by the American Heritage dictionary as a "person who fusses over trifles.

    Manuel L. Quezon III: The Daily Dose 2010

  • Here we have Charlie Brown and his insecurities with the Little Red-Haired Girl, Linus running for class president, Lucy being the eternal fussbudget, and Snoopy dealing with a pesky flock of birds (who would eventually evolve into one bird, Woodstock).

    2009 March : Scrubbles.net 2009

  • If Bailey Ruth has to bend a few rules to help Kathleen save her family, Wiggins, her fussbudget supervisor, will make sure it all turns out right in the end.

    Ghost at Work by Carolyn Hart: Book summary 2010

  • One man turns "obsessive about his exercise program"; another, the fussbudget bachelor in "Trespass," drives a would-be girlfriend crazy by punctiliously noting their nature walks in a logbook.

    Stories of Midlife Crises And Motherhood Dilemmas Sam Sacks 2011

  • The show's influence is certainly still being felt -- most noticeably on NBC's "30 Rock," with its show-about-a-show, and on HBO's "Curb Your Enthusiasm," where Larry David plays a neurotic fussbudget named Larry David who co-created "Seinfeld," which is of course true.

    TV review of "The Larry Sanders Show" coming out on box set Tom Shales 2010

  • Here we have Charlie Brown and his insecurities with the Little Red-Haired Girl, Linus running for class president, Lucy being the eternal fussbudget, and Snoopy dealing with a pesky flock of birds (who would eventually evolve into one bird, Woodstock).

    Weekly Mishmash: March 1-7 : Scrubbles.net 2009

  • "Losing It With Jillian" takes what was good about "The Biggest Loser" -- the weigh-ins, the workouts, the touchy-feely fussbudget who is Jillian's co-star, Bob Harper -- and replaces it with all that oopy-goopy lard of the sorrow of being fat.

    NBC's 'Losing It With Jillian,' shedding tears before pounds 2010

  • At this point she clearly dismissed me as a curmudgeonly fussbudget, which I most assuredly am.

    Laissez-Fairing: Rules vs. Aerodynamics BikeSnobNYC 2009

  • The personalities were also altered: the Scarecrow was intensely accident-prone but strangely indifferent to his bumbling, the heartless Tin Man was aggressively rude and insensitive to others and the Lion, although still jittery when facing real and perceived threat, is often more of a fussbudget than a brazen sissy.

    Current Movie Reviews, Independent Movies - Film Threat 2007

  • This material is ideal for heating to intensely high temperature for searing and stir-frying, but it also means that, unlike the other low-maintenance equipment in my kitchen, the wok is a fussbudget.

    Archive 2007-09-01 Nupur 2007

Comments

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  • A wonderful word, strong and Teutonic.

    August 8, 2008

  • What my mom used to call me when I was a kid

    September 23, 2008