FASTIDIOUS
fastidious
(adjective) giving careful attention to detail; hard to please; excessively concerned with cleanliness; “a fastidious and incisive intellect”; “fastidious about personal cleanliness”
fastidious, exacting
(adjective) having complicated nutritional requirements; especially growing only in special artificial cultures; “fastidious microorganisms”; “certain highly specialized xerophytes are extremely exacting in their requirements”
Source: WordNet® 3.1
Etymology
Adjective
fastidious (comparative more fastidious, superlative most fastidious)
Excessively particular, demanding, or fussy about details, especially about tidiness and cleanliness.
Synonyms: exacting, fussy, meticulous, niggly, pernickety, Thesaurus:fastidious
Overly concerned about tidiness and cleanliness.
Difficult to please; quick to find fault.
Source: Wiktionary
Fas*tid"i*ous, a. Etym: [L. fastidiosus disdainful, fr. fastidium
loathing, aversion, perh. fr. fastus arrogance (of uncertain origin)
+ taedium loathing. Cf. Tedious, Fash.]
Definition: 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.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition