Meaning & use
fussy eater
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Meanings
nouncountable
A person who is hard to please about food and accepts only a small range of things to eat.
Grammar: Countable: use a/an or a plural, as in 'She's a fussy eater' or 'fussy eaters often refuse vegetables.'
Patterns
- be a fussy eater
- a fussy eater who refuses something
- fussy eaters among a group
My nephew is a fussy eater, so we always cook plain pasta when he visits.
The nursery staff say fussy eaters usually grow out of it by school age.
As a fussy eater, he checks every label before he buys anything.
nouncountablefigurative
Someone who is difficult to please in general, not only about meals.
Grammar: Used in the same countable way, but the fussiness is about choices and standards rather than food.
Patterns
- a fussy eater when it comes to something
- be a fussy eater about something
When it comes to hotels, she's a fussy eater — nothing is ever quite right.
He's a fussy eater about music and rarely likes a new band.
Word forms
| plural | fussy eaters |
|---|
Common combinations
- a fussy eater at mealtimes
- He turns into a fussy eater at mealtimes and pushes his plate away.
- a notoriously fussy eater
- Their daughter is a notoriously fussy eater who will only eat white rice.
- cope with a fussy eater
- Parents often ask how to cope with a fussy eater without turning dinner into a battle.
- grow out of being a fussy eater
- Most children grow out of being a fussy eater once they start school.
- a fussy eater's limited diet
- A fussy eater's limited diet can worry grandparents more than doctors.
Synonyms and how they differ
- picky eater
- Very close in meaning and common in American English; 'picky' sounds a little more informal than 'fussy'.
- selective eater
- More neutral and slightly technical, often used by doctors or teachers instead of judging the person.
- finicky eater
- Similar but stronger, suggesting the person is fussy in an annoying, hard-to-please way.
Opposites
Word family
- fussiness noun
- The quality of being hard to please, especially about food.
- fussily adverb
- In a way that shows you are hard to please.
- fussy adjective
- Hard to please; also used of clothes with too much decoration.
- eat verb
- To put food in your mouth and swallow it.
- eater noun
- A person or animal that eats in a particular way, as in 'a big eater'.
Commonly confused: fussy eater or fussy eater? fussy eater or fussy?
fussy eater vs fussy eater
Not the same as 'picky eater' in one detail: 'fussy' can also mean full of decorative detail, as in 'a fussy dress', so keep the phrase together when you mean food.
fussy eater vs fussy
On its own, 'fussy' describes a person or thing, not a meal; 'a fussy eater' is the fixed phrase for someone who rejects many foods.
Practice
Which sentence uses 'fussy eater' correctly?
Choose one answer.
'Fussy eater' is a countable noun phrase, so it needs 'a' before it. Options 2 and 4 change the noun to 'eat' or 'eating', which are not the fixed noun in this phrase, and option 1 leaves out the article.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “fussy eater”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.