fussy

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“
The French used to be able to laugh at the puritanical Americans for their fussy, abstemious approach to the pleasures of life.

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Definitions (9)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (4)

  1. adjective Easily upset; given to bouts of ill temper: a fussy baby.
  2. adjective Paying great or excessive attention to personal tastes and appearance; fastidious: He was always fussy about clothes.
  3. adjective Calling for or requiring great attention to sometimes trivial details: a fussy actuarial problem.
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Examples (50)

  • He is plump and fussy, and smells of limes and spilled beer Margarethe struts into the room. —  Maguire, Gregory - Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister - UC [.html].htm
  • 'They're not fussy, as long as they get their two squares a day Now tell me about the slides you mentioned on the phone Qwilleran asked, 'How long will it take to make slides from black-and-white photos I can get them whenever I want them. —  THE CAT WHO WENT BANANAS
  • Using the word fussy reinforced the English accent. —  Blevins, Meredith - (Szabo 02) - The Vanished Priestess
  • I started leafing through, and there were a few cookies that caught my eye, but I definitely wasn't in the mood for doing any kind of fussy or fancy baking. —  Bumblebee Sweet Potato
  • FUN BABY FACT: Right as they're about to get fussy, all babies look exactly like John Belushi's impression of Joe Cocker. —  Deadspin
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Related

Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

officious ·  middle-aged ·  inquisitive ·  prim ·  pompous ·  excitable ·  irritable ·  touchy ·  timid ·  tiresome ·  brisk ·  red-faced
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (1)

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. Now regarded as fuss, n., + -y; but perhaps orig. an extended form of Middle English fus, fous, eager, anxious: see fuss, n., and fouse.
 

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/ˈfəsi/
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