pernickety
9 synonyms for pernickety, grouped by meaning and by how common each one is.
Adj — (informal) Very particular about small details, often more than necessary.
Synonyms
Rare, literary or technical
Precise, but they will stand out — check the sense before using one.
Etymology
From Scots pernickety, persnickety, apparently formed from per- plus nick (“a notch, mark, cutting retort”) plus -et (“-ed”) plus -y — equivalent to English per- plus nick plus -ety, literally “marked up”, later “overly precise”. The variant persnickety, with an s, may come from Scots sneck (“a cut, notch”) replacing n...
Full origin of pernickety →