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
-
These concerns underscore the need for careful consideration of privacy rights when deploying such technology.—
Kurt Knutsson, CyberGuy Report,
Fox News,
15 Mar. 2025
-
To make the most of spring planting, start with site preparation and careful plant selection.—
Kim Toscano,
Southern Living,
14 Mar. 2025
Adjective
-
But our biggest gripe with the classic Cuisinart design is how finicky these elements can be.—
Wilder Davies,
Bon Appétit,
21 Mar. 2025
-
The conditions that can foster a super bloom are finicky and delicate.—
Mae Hamilton,
AFAR Media,
20 Mar. 2025
Adjective
-
Jonathan Pryce plays the persnickety headmaster who prefers to keep politics outside the school walls.—
Joe Reid,
Vulture,
12 Sep. 2024
-
Kurkdjian’s policies as head of the department reflect both a persnickety attention to detail and an obsession with creative autonomy.—
Rachel Syme,
The New Yorker,
16 Sep. 2024
Adjective
-
The final contestants from Group C — Nessy, Mad Scientist Monster, and Yorkie — did not follow that particular decades trend, opting to jump around more in time instead.—
Lauren Huff,
EW.com,
10 Apr. 2025
-
Black women in particular have been using tools like flexi rods for generations.—
Bella Cacciatore,
Glamour,
10 Apr. 2025
Adjective
-
This is a modern American restaurant with playful seasonal tasting menus that start at $135, a good value for those who want a fine-dining experience that isn’t overly fussy on the Strip.—
Andy Wang,
Forbes.com,
28 Mar. 2025
-
Although anyone can injure a baby in a moment of frustration, most prevention research has focused specifically on helping parents understand why infants cry or become fussy.—
Lori Frasier,
The Conversation,
19 Mar. 2025
Adjective
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Gregory’s picky eating has been a long-running gag on the show, but when Erica bails on a hard-to-get reservation, Barbara encourages Gregory to fill in so Janine doesn’t have to cancel.—
Ile-Ife Okantah,
Vulture,
29 Jan. 2025
-
Van Pay and Baumert are picky about words.—
Jack Truesdale,
The Atlantic,
25 Jan. 2025
Adjective
-
Zink, who has lived in and around that city for many years, catalogs the ghosts that haunt it with a voice that is cool and fastidious and possessed of a screwball comic sensibility rooted in pain.—
New York Times,
New York Times,
27 Mar. 2025
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The exhaustingly prolific Kidman stars as a fastidious suburban teacher/wife/mom who suspects her optometrist hubby (Macfadyen) is hiding something from her and enlists the help of a cute high school shop teacher (Bernal) to expose those secrets in the very strange town of Holland, Michigan.—
Randy Myers,
The Mercury News,
21 Mar. 2025
Adjective
-
In the last two decades, the number of hospitals and diagnostic centers has already increased sixfold, and there’s room for many more, particularly those that value quality, which patients are increasingly demanding and becoming aware of.—
Sylvana Quader Sinha,
Forbes.com,
14 Apr. 2025
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In making such a claim, Bonhoeffer moved the aim of conscience away from obedience to rational principles and to the more demanding and concrete love for God and one’s living, breathing, suffering neighbor.—
David DeCosse,
Mercury News,
11 Apr. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Pernickety.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/pernickety. Accessed 22 Apr. 2025.
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