# fastidious

Pronunciation: say "fa-STID-ee-uhs" /fæsˈtɪdi.əs/

## Adjective

1. Very careful about detail, accuracy, or cleanliness, and hard to please; demanding exacting standards and quick to notice what falls short.
   - Simple: Very fussy about details or cleanliness, and hard to please.
   - _His fastidious nature showed in the way he lined up his shoes by color._
   - _She was fastidious about hygiene, scrubbing her hands for a full minute before handling any food._
2. Of a microorganism, having exact requirements for nutrients and for chemical and physical conditions, and especially being hard to grow in culture as a result.
   - Simple: Of a germ, needing very exact food and conditions to grow, so it is hard to grow in a lab.
   - _Haemophilus influenzae is a fastidious organism that grows only on enriched media such as chocolate agar._
   - _Fastidious species are easily missed in routine cultures, so clinicians may ask for molecular tests instead._

## Origin

Borrowed from Latin fastīdiōsus ("disdainful, scornful; disgusting"), from fastīdium ("loathing, disgust; niceness of taste"), perhaps from fastus ("disdain, haughtiness") + taedium ("disgust"). Compare French fastidieux.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/fastidious (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).