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fussiness

/ˈfʌsinɪs/
/ˈfʌsinɛs/
IPA guide

Other forms: fussinesses

Fussiness is a quality of being overly careful or extremely hard to please. Your dad's fussiness might mean that his spices are organized alphabetically — and that he gets very annoyed if you put them back in the wrong order.

If you like to have things just so before starting your homework — your room tidied, and two pencils on your desk lying parallel to your laptop — that's fussiness. You might also say you're fastidious or detail-oriented. Another kind of fussiness is essentially being picky about what you eat: "My brother's fussiness means we're always stuck eating pasta or pizza for dinner." And parents often describe the cries of an unhappy baby as fussiness, too: "Her fussiness is the worst at midnight."

Definitions of fussiness
  1. noun
    unnecessary elaborateness in details
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    type of:
    elaborateness, ornateness
    an ornate appearance; being elaborately (even excessively) decorated
  2. noun
    an irritable petulant feeling
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    types:
    testiness, tetchiness, touchiness
    feeling easily irritated
    pet
    a fit of petulance or sulkiness (especially at what is felt to be a slight)
    type of:
    distemper, ill humor, ill humour
    an angry and disagreeable mood
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