picky

adjective

ˈpi-kē How to pronounce picky (audio)
Definition of pickynext
1
as in choosy
hard to please a picky cat who would only eat one particular kind of food, and only if it was served in his special dish

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in selective
tending to select carefully she's picky, but she always finds the best quality in fresh meat and fish

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of picky Even those picky eaters may want something else from time to time. — Isabel Lopez, Parents, 17 Aug. 2026 Queen conchs are picky about their habitats Queen conchs are large marine gastropods, and can be found throughout the Caribbean Sea, around Bermuda and in the Florida Keys. — Sarah Perkel, USA Today, 31 July 2026 Diners can eat outside picnic-style or take their meal to go, but either way, get ready for a satisfying option for even the pickiest of pallets. — Gabi De La Rosa, Southern Living, 28 July 2026 Did Argentina benefit, in the last 16, from a by-the-rules but picky VAR decision that nixed a quality goal by Egypt? — Tom Krasovic, San Diego Union-Tribune, 19 July 2026 See All Example Sentences for picky
Recent Examples of Synonyms for picky
  1. choosy
  2. selective
  3. finicky
  4. careful
  5. fussy
  6. nice
  7. persnickety
  8. particular
Adjective
  • And because Imax is not actively seeking a sale, simply entertaining offers, its executives can afford to be choosey.
    — Sarah Whitten, CNBC, 28 Aug. 2026
  • Young adults are just getting choosier about when a drink is actually worth it, and the ripple effects are showing up in surveys, menus and social feeds.
    — Ryan Brennan, Sacbee.com, 26 Aug. 2026
Definition of choosy
Adjective
  • Its work-in-progress was also one of five titles at the 2025 prestigious and highly selective Annecy Animation Showcase at the Cannes Festival’s Marché du Film.
    — Rafa Sales Ross, Variety, 27 Aug. 2026
  • The work builds on earlier research from Donghua professor Ye Chen’s group examining selective polyester recycling.
    — Alexandra Harrell, Footwear News, 26 Aug. 2026
Definition of selective
Adjective
  • Moisture trapped in the ground allows finicky crops such as onions and peanuts to grow.
    — Adrien Marotte, Christian Science Monitor, 20 Aug. 2026
  • Their odds of winning the World Series – a famously finicky task prone to small sample size flukes – were over 25%, one-in-four for one of baseball’s 30 teams.
    — Hannah Keyser, CNN Money, 13 Aug. 2026
Definition of finicky
Adjective
  • Apply the serum directly to sparse areas of your brows, being careful to avoid letting the product touch other areas of your skin.
    — Iman Balagam, Vogue, 27 Aug. 2026
  • According to the researchers, careful process design and optimization as well as architecture simplification could help in solving most of these issues, something that industrial production focuses on much more than academic researchers.
    — Ameya Paleja, Interesting Engineering, 27 Aug. 2026
Definition of careful
Adjective
  • Writer-director Stephen Butchko, for instance, may voice a robot cop with a Southern drawl, then seamlessly shift to a fussy Jarvis-like service bot with an English accent.
    — David Bloom, Forbes.com, 22 Aug. 2026
  • Infants may act sluggish or not active, vomit, be unusually fussy, face poor feeding, show a bulging soft spot on the head, or show poor reflexes.
    — Matthew Ablon, CBS News, 17 Aug. 2026
Definition of fussy
Adjective
  • This one is a nice pick for yourself or someone else who wants to try a handful of trending beauty brands to find their new holy grail products.
    — Alanna Martine Kilkeary, Glamour, 31 Aug. 2026
  • The brown one’s okay, but purple — looking royal — that’d be nice.
    — Maria Bamford, Vulture, 31 Aug. 2026
Definition of nice
Adjective
  • The team then turned to an open-source model developed in China, which was less persnickety.
    — Stephen Witt, New Yorker, 30 July 2026
  • Imagine creating a new standard of hypersensitive caution about attracting even the most persnickety media criticism, and then applying it for the first time to your son’s wedding.
    — Jonathan Chait, The Atlantic, 21 May 2026
Definition of persnickety
Adjective
  • One day, Cole paged through an album whose acidic glues caused her particular anguish.
    — Laura Preston, New Yorker, 30 Aug. 2026
  • Shape-memory polymers can be programmed to return to a particular shape after exposure to a stimulus, often heat.
    — Kaif Shaikh, Interesting Engineering, 30 Aug. 2026
Definition of particular

Browse Nearby Words

pickups
picky
picnic
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Cite this Entry

“Picky.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/picky. Accessed 1 Sep. 2026.

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