Make Your Point > Archived Issues > FASTIDIOUS

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pronounce FASTIDIOUS: Say it "fass TID ee us." To hear it, click here. connect this word to others: When we're describing people who are fussy about little details, we have a wonderful array of words to pick from. Some have a positive tone, like m_____lous, meaning "very careful about all the details." Some can sound positive or negative, like the one we're checking out today, fastidious: "extremely mindful of details."  Others have a distinctly negative tone, like per______ty ("fussy about details") and c__tious ("eager to point out minor faults and flaws"). So, be picky! Pick and choose from these words as you describe people who endlessly pick and choose. The options above all sound sophisticated, but sometimes you want a homely little word like choosy instead. "Fastidious mothers insist upon Jif" isn't quite as catchy, right? (To reveal any word with blanks, give it a click.) definition: Our word "fastidious" comes from a Latin one meaning "dislike, or squeamishness." In English, "fastidious" first meant "disgusting," then "disgusted," then "easily disgusted and very hard to please." It's this latest meaning that survives today. If things or people are fastidious, that means they're extremely picky and careful about details. Here's Tahani, from The Good Place, being fastidious about her skincare: "Well, I should really be going. I have to begin my 12-step Korean skincare regimen." grammatical bits: Part of speech: Adjective: "she's fastidious about her grooming," "her grooming is fastidious." Other forms:  Fastidiously, fastidiousness. how to use it: The word "fastidious" is semi-common, so it's good for calling just a bit of extra attention to your idea. The tone is often positive, suggesting that people are spending plenty of time and effort on making things just right, even though they don't have to: "They made the repairs so fastidiously." But occasionally the tone is negative, suggesting that people are wasting time and effort on details that really don't matter: "I was so fastidious about my makeup that I made myself late." You might talk about fastidious people and personalities, or fastidious tasks or jobs: the kind that demand attention to detail. Or, talk about someone's fastidious taste, intellect, vocabulary, cooking skills, attention to color and design, etc. Someone might have a fastidious eye for fashion, a fastidious insistence on quality, and so on. Notice how you can say that people are fastidious about something: "This company is fastidious about safety." examples: "Embracing order and constraint in the face of threat, tight-leaning friends and family members are even more fastidious: They may be disinfecting groceries by hand or wiping down door knobs incessantly."    — Michele Gelfand, Salon, 28 May 2020 "He was fastidious about his fine black suit and stovepipe hat, extracting lint from the fabric and glaring at it as if it were a poison spider before flicking it."     — Coleson Whitehead, The Underground Railroad: A Novel, 2016 has this page helped you understand "fastidious"? Awesome, I'm glad it helped! Thanks for letting me know! If you have any questions about this word, please message me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com. study it: Explain the meaning of "fastidious" without saying "obsessive" or "perfectionist." try it out: What's something you're fastidious about? Your work? Your studies? Your art? Your housekeeping, gardening, or cooking? Keeping your music collection organized? Keeping your children disciplined? Keeping all the hangers in your closet facing the same way and spaced two fingers' width apart? Talk about how your fastidiousness about this particular thing makes you happy, drives you crazy, or does both.  If you like, use this space to write. (To save your work, copy and paste it into an email or a document.) before you review, play: Try to spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—first, let your working memory empty out. Our new game for August is Everyday Etymologies! If you're in the habit of looking up the etymologies of everyday words (wait, you aren't?), then you find, occasionally, certain ones that strike you as particularly apt, cute, strange, or poetic. I'd like to share some of those finds with you this month. In each issue, I'll give you the etymology of an everyday word, and you supply the word. We'll start easy and move into some tougher ones as the month goes on, but every answer will be an everyday kind of word, one you've been familiar with since, say, adolescence at least. To see the answer, scroll to the bottom of the issue. Try this one today: This three-syllable word literally means "the day belonging to, or controlled by, the planet Saturn." review this word: 1. A near opposite of FASTIDIOUS is A. PANGLOSSIAN (foolishly, unrealistically hopeful and optimistic). B. PERFUNCTORY (done in a dull, bored, routine, halfhearted way, without true care or passion). C. PICARESQUE (suggesting, or seeming fitting for, a roguish hero or a grand adventure story). 2. His class notes are fastidious, full of _____. A. jokes and illustrations B. trim lists and tidy diagrams C. ink smears and coffee stains Answers to review questions: 1. B 2. B Answer to the game question: Saturday! If you were thinking Saturday is named after the Roman god, rather than the planet, that's not far off at all. Here's the OED: "The Latin days of the week in imperial Rome were named after the planets, which in turn were named after gods." a final word: I hope you're enjoying Make Your Point. It's made with love. I'm Liesl Johnson, a reading and writing tutor on a mission to explore, illuminate, and celebrate words. From my blog:    36 ways to study words.    Why we forget words, & how to remember them.    How to use sophisticated words without being awkward. To be a sponsor and include your ad in an issue, please contact me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com. Disclaimer: When I write definitions, I use plain language and stick to the words' common, useful applications. If you're interested in authoritative and multiple definitions of words, I encourage you to check a dictionary. Also, because I'm American, I stick to American English when I share words' meanings, usage, and pronunciations; these elements sometimes vary across world Englishes.