: extremely or excessively particular, exacting, or meticulous in taste or standards
a finicky eater
My teacher is finicky about spelling.
2
: requiring much care, precision, or attentive effort
a finicky recipe
… growing the finicky Pinot Noir grape … Kim Marcus
finickinessnoun
Did you know?
If you’re a reader of a certain age (say, a Boomer, Gen Xer, or even a Xennial), you may remember cheeky television commercials featuring Morris, a finicky housecat who only eats a certain brand of cat food. (Morris is still featured on product labels.) 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.
My teacher is finicky about grammar. a complicated and finicky recipe
Recent Examples on the WebAll that stands between you and turning your farmers market heirlooms into a homemade marinara is that ever-finicky, paper-thin tomato skin. Mehreen Karim, Bon Appétit, 29 Aug. 2022 But emergency generators are huge machines – finicky, unreliable gas guzzlers. Najmedin Meshkati, The Conversation, 26 Aug. 2022 Celebrities like Scarlett Johansson and Chantal Jeffries have helped popularize the new (and finicky — helix piercings can take up to nine months to heal) style. Leah Prinzivalli, Allure, 31 May 2022 The fictionalized account centers on Claire, a 19-year-old who sneaks through Columbia’s gates to listen in on philosophy classes in her free time and quickly learns the ropes of mending even the most finicky devices as a new staffer. Wired Staff, Wired, 26 Nov. 2021 The most finicky of them was stone fruit, only because it must be pitted before being chopped. Olga Massov, Washington Post, 15 July 2022 But the tech too finicky and expensive, and the customers felt like they were being asked to buy a rocket ship. Richard Bishop, Forbes, 6 June 2022 Ours came with a SRAM Red drivetrain, which saved weight but proved finicky, and shallow drop bars that worked well with small hands. Axie Navas, Outside Online, 14 May 2015 Be sure not to boil pasta water, do dishes or start a tea kettle until your pavlova has completely cooled as the meringue can be finicky before, during and after baking. Robin Miller, The Arizona Republic, 17 June 2022 See More