Fastidious

WORD OF THE DAY

fastidious / adjective / fass-TID-ee-us

Definition
|1a: showing or demanding excessive delicacy or care
1b: reflecting a meticulous, sensitive, or demanding attitude
1c: having high and often capricious standards
1d: difficult to please
2: having complex nutritional requirements
3 (archaic): scornful

Examples
"Curran kept fastidious notes on woolly-bear coloration in an attempt to link them to weather patterns."
— Jim McCormac, The Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch, 2 Jan. 2022

My mother had always been the most fastidious and organized of people—a wet ring left on her coffee table by a glass could drive her to distraction.
— John B. Judis, New Republic, 14 Oct. 1996

Did You Know?
Fastidious comes from Latin fastidium, meaning "aversion" or "disgust."
Fastidium is believed to be a combination of fastus, meaning "arrogance," and taedium, "irksomeness" or "disgust." (Taedium is also the source of tedium and tedious.)
In keeping with its Latin roots, fastidious once meant "haughty," "disgusting," and "disagreeable," but the word is now most often applied to people who are very meticulous or overly difficult to please, or to work which reflects a demanding or precise attitude.