'Fastidious' definitions:

Definition of 'fastidious'

(from WordNet)
adjective
Giving careful attention to detail; hard to please; excessively concerned with cleanliness; "a fastidious and incisive intellect"; "fastidious about personal cleanliness" [ant: unfastidious]
adjective
Having complicated nutritional requirements; especially growing only in special artificial cultures; "fastidious microorganisms"; "certain highly specialized xerophytes are extremely exacting in their requirements" [syn: fastidious, exacting] [ant: unfastidious]

Definition of 'Fastidious'

From: GCIDE
  • Fastidious \Fas*tid"i*ous\, a. [L. fastidiosus disdainful, fr. fastidium loathing, aversion, perh. fr. fastus arrogance (of uncertain origin) + taedium loathing. Cf. Tedious, Fash.] Difficult to please; delicate to a fault; suited with difficulty; squeamish; as, a fastidious mind or ear; a fastidious appetite. [1913 Webster]
  • Proud youth ! fastidious of the lower world. --Young.
  • Syn: Squeamish; critical; overnice; difficult; punctilious.
  • Usage: Fastidious, Squeamish. We call a person fastidious when his taste or feelings are offended by trifling defects or errors; we call him squeamish when he is excessively nice or critical on minor points, and also when he is overscrupulous as to questions of duty. "Whoever examines his own imperfections will cease to be fastidious; whoever restrains his caprice and scrupulosity will cease to be squeamish." --Crabb. -- {Fas*tid"i*ous*ly}, adv. -- {Fas*tid"i*ous*ness}, n. Fastigiate

Words containing 'Fastidious'