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
Cite this Entry
“Picky.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/picky. Accessed 11 Aug. 2026.
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