fastidious Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. adjective giving careful attention to detail; hard to please; excessively concerned with cleanliness
    • a fastidious and incisive intellect
    • fastidious about personal cleanliness
  2. adjective having complicated nutritional requirements; especially growing only in special artificial cultures
    exacting.
    • fastidious microorganisms
    • certain highly specialized xerophytes are extremely exacting in their requirements

WordNet

Fas*tid"i*ous adjective
Etymology
L. fastidiosus disdainful, fr. fastidium loathing, aversion, perh. fr. fastus arrogance (of uncertain origin) + taedium loathing. Cf. Tedious, Fash.
Definitions
  1. Difficult to please; delicate to fault; suited with difficulty; squeamish; as, a fastidious mind or ear; a fastidious appetite.
    Proud youth ! fastidious of the lower world. Young.
    Syn. -- Squeamish; critical; overnice; difficult; punctilious. -- 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.

Webster 1913