fastidious

  • 1Fastidious — Fas*tid i*ous, a. [L. fastidiosus disdainful, fr. fastidium loathing, aversion, perh. fr. fastus arrogance (of uncertain origin) + taedium loathing. Cf. {Tedious}, {Fash}.] Difficult to please; delicate to a fault; suited with difficulty;… …

    The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • 2fastidious — index conscientious, diligent, discriminating (judicious), meticulous, particular (exacting), precise …

    Law dictionary

  • 3fastidious — mid 15c., full of pride, from L. fastidiosus disdainful, squeamish, exacting, from fastidium loathing, squeamishness, most likely from *fastu taidiom, a compound of fastus contempt, arrogance and taedium aversion, disgust. Early use in English… …

    Etymology dictionary

  • 4fastidious — finicky, finicking, finical, particular, fussy, *nice, dainty, squeamish, persnickety, pernickety Analogous words: exacting, demanding (see DEMAND vb): Critical, hypercritical, captious: Careful, meticulous, punctilious, scrupulous Contrasted… …

    New Dictionary of Synonyms

  • 5fastidious — [adj] very careful, meticulous captious, choosy, critical, dainty, demanding, difficult, discriminating, easily disgusted, exacting, finical, finicky, fussbudgety*, fussy, hard to please*, hypercritical, nice, nit picky, overdelicate, overnice,… …

    New thesaurus

  • 6fastidious — ► ADJECTIVE 1) very attentive to accuracy and detail. 2) very concerned about matters of cleanliness. DERIVATIVES fastidiously adverb fastidiousness noun. ORIGIN originally in the sense «disagreeable, distasteful»: from Latin fastidium loathing …

    English terms dictionary

  • 7fastidious — [fa stid′ē əs, fəstid′ē əs] adj. [ME < L fastidiosus < fastidium, a loathing, disgust < fastus, disdain, contempt, pride (< ? IE base * bhars , projection, point, BRISTLE) + taedium: see TEDIUM] 1. not easy to please; very critical or …

    English World dictionary

  • 8fastidious — [[t]fæstɪ̱diəs[/t]] 1) ADJ GRADED If you say that someone is fastidious, you mean that they pay great attention to detail because they like everything to be very neat, accurate, and in good order. ...her fastidious attention to historical detail …

    English dictionary

  • 9fastidious — adj. fastidious about (fastidious about one s appearance) * * * [fæ stɪdɪəs] fastidious about (fastidious about one s appearance) …

    Combinatory dictionary

  • 10fastidious — adjective Etymology: Middle English, from Latin fastidiosus, from fastidium disgust, probably from fastus arrogance (probably akin to Latin fastigium top) + taedium irksomeness more at tedium Date: 15th century 1. archaic scornful 2. a. having… …

    New Collegiate Dictionary