fastidious
to be accurate and detail oriented
TRANSLATION
fastidious = anspruchsvoll, penibel --- GOOGLE INDEX fastidious: approximately 5,400,000 Google hits
STATISTICS
IN THE PRESS
Food activist and best-selling author Anna Lappé is FASTIDIOUS about protecting her children from increasing levels of toxins created by the agro-chemical industry.
(The Guardian)
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She was a pretty creature, and she and her willow bough made a very pretty picture, and one which could not offend the modesty of the most FASTIDIOUS spectator.
(A Tramp Abroad, by Mark Twain)
(The Guardian)
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She was a pretty creature, and she and her willow bough made a very pretty picture, and one which could not offend the modesty of the most FASTIDIOUS spectator.
(A Tramp Abroad, by Mark Twain)
Did you
know?
fastidious
adjective
- very attentive to and concerned about accuracy and detail
- very concerned about matters of cleanliness
(Oxford English Dictionary)
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Fastidious is a 15th century word that stems from the Latin fastidiosus, meaning "disdainful, squeamish, exacting" and from the Latin fastidium, which was used in the sense of "loathing, squeamishness." Fastidium may derive from "fastu-taidom," a compound word that combines fastus (contempt, arrogance) and taedium (aversion, disgust).
Fastidious usually describes someone who is very particular about the details or someone who is extremely neat and clean. Biologists will tell you that microorganisms can also be fastidious. A fastidious organism is any organism that has a complex nutritional requirement. It will only grow when specific nutrients are included in its diet.
As for fastidious humans, we need look no farther than Hollywood for a good example. In the 1968 comedy classic The Odd Couple, Jack Lemmon plays Felix Ungar, a neat and neurotic man who has just broken up with his wife. Felix, is urged by his friend Oscar, played by Walter Matthau, to move in with him.
Oscar is unfortunately driven mad by Felix's overly-fastidious ways. Things escalate one evening when Felix disrupts Oscar's weekly poker night:
Roy: What's the smell? Disinfectant? [smells his cards] It's the cards. Felix washed the cards. I'm getting out of here. I can't stand any more.
Oscar: Wait a minute, Roy. Where are you going?
Roy: I've been sitting here, breathing cleaning fluid and ammonia for three hours! Nature didn't intend for poker to be played like that.
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SYNONYMS
choosy, demanding, difficult, discriminating, exacting, finicky, fussy, meticulous, nit-picky, particular, persnickety, picky, stickling
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SMUGGLE OWAD into today's conversation
"She's a fastidious worker who seldom makes mistakes."
adjective
- very attentive to and concerned about accuracy and detail
- very concerned about matters of cleanliness
(Oxford English Dictionary)
---
Fastidious is a 15th century word that stems from the Latin fastidiosus, meaning "disdainful, squeamish, exacting" and from the Latin fastidium, which was used in the sense of "loathing, squeamishness." Fastidium may derive from "fastu-taidom," a compound word that combines fastus (contempt, arrogance) and taedium (aversion, disgust).
Fastidious usually describes someone who is very particular about the details or someone who is extremely neat and clean. Biologists will tell you that microorganisms can also be fastidious. A fastidious organism is any organism that has a complex nutritional requirement. It will only grow when specific nutrients are included in its diet.
As for fastidious humans, we need look no farther than Hollywood for a good example. In the 1968 comedy classic The Odd Couple, Jack Lemmon plays Felix Ungar, a neat and neurotic man who has just broken up with his wife. Felix, is urged by his friend Oscar, played by Walter Matthau, to move in with him.
Oscar is unfortunately driven mad by Felix's overly-fastidious ways. Things escalate one evening when Felix disrupts Oscar's weekly poker night:
Roy: What's the smell? Disinfectant? [smells his cards] It's the cards. Felix washed the cards. I'm getting out of here. I can't stand any more.
Oscar: Wait a minute, Roy. Where are you going?
Roy: I've been sitting here, breathing cleaning fluid and ammonia for three hours! Nature didn't intend for poker to be played like that.
---
SYNONYMS
choosy, demanding, difficult, discriminating, exacting, finicky, fussy, meticulous, nit-picky, particular, persnickety, picky, stickling
---
SMUGGLE OWAD into today's conversation
"She's a fastidious worker who seldom makes mistakes."
