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Definition of "fussy" []

  • Easily upset; given to bouts of ill temper: a fussy baby. (adjective)
  • Paying great or excessive attention to personal tastes and appearance; fastidious: He was always fussy about clothes. (adjective)
  • Calling for or requiring great attention to sometimes trivial details: a fussy actuarial problem. (adjective)
  • Full of superfluous details: "It can indeed be fussy, filling with ornament what should be empty space” ( H.D.F. Kitto). (adjective)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Use "fussy" in a sentence
  • "She starts by sketching, which she refers to as her fussy phase of the creative process, then begins applying masking fluid to the white spaces, gradually progressing to other lighter tones before adding more layers of color."
  • "The art on the walls, set in fussy gilt frames, kept changing — from Manet to Monet and back, I think."
  • "I believe that people who are described as fussy eaters simply are not given enough choice in what they eat."