picky

adjective

ˈpi-kē 

pickier; pickiest

: very careful or too careful about choosing or accepting things : fussy, choosy

a picky eater

Because pen collectors are a picky lot, and some antiques dealers who are not in the pen business can overlook the details of condition, there is occasional friction.

—Bill Holland

With rising ticket prices and new competition from cable TV, cost-conscious families may be pickier about the movies they choose to see.

—David Ansen and Martin Kasindorf

pickiness noun

Taylor mocks Zavala for the size of his extended Mexican family, their endless chatter and the frequency of their quinceaneras. Zavala ribs Taylor for his white-person pickiness about artisanal coffee and marriage.

—Belinda Luscombe

Now jobless and forced to live with five housemates in San Jose, Calif., she comes away from every job interview discouraged by employers' pickiness.

—Daniel McGinn

Synonyms

• choosy
• choosey
• dainty
• delicate
• demanding
• exacting
• fastidious
• finical
• finicking
• finicky
• fussbudgety
• fussy
• nice
• old-maidish
• particular
• pernickety [chiefly British]
• persnickety

Examples of picky in a Sentence

a picky cat who would only eat one particular kind of food, and only if it was served in his special dish

she's picky, but she always finds the best quality in fresh meat and fish

Recent Examples on the Web

These items don’t just fit my very picky aesthetic, though — most are totally functional, too. —Neha Tandon, People.com, 9 Dec. 2024

However, the family is quickly learning Ryobi is a bit picky. —Daniel R. Depetris, Newsweek, 6 Dec. 2024

Though for many people shopping can be relatively painless (depending on how picky your tastes are), for those who fall outside of the typical industry sizing, the process can be a tedious slog or even painful. —Mikelle Street, Them, 26 Nov. 2024

First, sake’s acidity is lower than in wine, which makes sake less picky about what to pair with. —Akiko Katayama, Forbes, 31 Oct. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1917, in the meaning defined above

Kids Definition

picky

adjective

ˈpik-ē 

pickier; pickiest

: fussy sense 2b, finicky