Meaning & use

fastidious

adjective·Advanced

Very attentive to detail and difficult to please, especially about accuracy, cleanliness, or correctness.

See it in a sentence

The fastidious editor caught every small typo before the article went to print.

He was fastidious about keeping his workshop tools perfectly organized.

A note on using this word

'Fastidious' can carry a mild negative tone, suggesting someone is fussy or hard to satisfy rather than simply careful.

Words with a similar meaning

meticulousparticular

Choose a synonym to suit the sentence. Meanings can overlap without being identical.

Words with an opposite meaning

carelesssloppy

Make it your own

Write a sentence using “fastidious”, then compare your use with the examples above.

Your draft stays on this page and is not sent anywhere.