as in careful
hard to please
an Oxford don who's definitely a pernickety old chap
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Recent Examples of pernickety
Perhaps this pernickety attention to detail is just the next logical step after years of falsification?
—
Raven Smith, Vogue, 9 Dec. 2020
Raven Smith, Vogue, 9 Dec. 2020
Recent Examples of Synonyms for pernickety
Adjective
-
State officials are careful to identify the correct individual with the precise address before sending any money.—
Christopher Keating,
Hartford Courant,
25 July 2025
-
The trailer is careful to showcase the film’s scale – fighter planes soar, speedboats roar, trains careen, and cities flash by in a blur – while keeping plot details tantalizingly out of reach.—
Naman Ramachandran,
Variety,
25 July 2025
Adjective
-
The new process works well enough, but the reader can be finicky.—
PC Magazine,
PC Magazine,
22 July 2025
-
The touring circuit had previously been dependent on stars, but humans are finicky and capricious.—
Chris Jones,
Chicago Tribune,
15 July 2025
Adjective
-
But Wilson is in his comfort zone as ever with Anderson, playing Francis’s persnickety dedication to the trip’s itinerary with his typical generosity.—
Joe Reid,
Vulture,
12 June 2025
-
What would the notoriously persnickety Corbitt say about those bold additions?—
Libby Monteith Minor,
Southern Living,
17 May 2025
Adjective
-
Is there any particular song that a band member fights for?—
Maya Georgi,
Rolling Stone,
14 July 2025
-
This particular pain is never returned to—not in these terms.—
James Wood,
New Yorker,
14 July 2025
Adjective
-
Bottom line: If the fabric is fussy, valuable, or sentimental, let the experts handle it.—
Alexandra Emanuelli,
Southern Living,
28 July 2025
-
The restaurant is slightly upscale, without being fussy, and part of a powerhouse group that operates Street & Co., Fore Street, and Standard Baking Co.. Don’t miss the cloverleaf rolls, halibut with brown butter and hazelnuts, and whatever the custard of the day is.—
Jacqueline Dole,
Travel + Leisure,
26 July 2025
Adjective
-
Justin’s Almond Butter My youngest niece, a picky eater, has found her match with these nut butter pouches.—
Ronny Maye,
Forbes.com,
26 July 2025
-
On the first day, my picky and very spoiled cats played with it for three hours straight.—
WIRED,
Wired News,
10 July 2025
Adjective
-
The swashbuckling sire, the deadpan ingénue, the sans serif font, the one-point perspective — Anderson’s held fast to his favorite elements even as his canvases have gotten broader and his style even more fastidious.—
Alison Willmore,
Vulture,
18 May 2025
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This is true of people who don’t bathe and also people who are fastidious about bathing and douse themselves in cologne, and everyone else in between.—
R. Eric Thomas,
Chicago Tribune,
29 June 2025
Adjective
-
While speed-scouting for deer usually requires boots-on-the-ground, pheasant scouting isn’t usually so demanding.—
Natalie Krebs,
Outdoor Life,
30 July 2025
-
The short schedule also gave Brie and Franco the inspiration to throw themselves into the more physically demanding aspects of the roles.—
Jim Hemphill,
IndieWire,
29 July 2025
Cite this Entry
“Pernickety.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/pernickety. Accessed 6 Aug. 2025.
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