Picky
adjective
Definition
1. Very careful or too careful about choosing only what you like.
2. Hard to please.
2. Hard to please.
Context Alive
The waiter brought over the menu and waited patiently. But the customer was incredibly picky and kept asking about every single ingredient in each dish. After ten minutes, she finally ordered a plain salad with the dressing on the side.
Meanings
1 meaning 1 Very Careful or Fussy About Choosing (Adjective) Very Common ▼
This meaning is about someone who is really hard to please because they only accept exactly what they want. Imagine trying to buy a birthday gift for a friend who doesn’t like most colours, most brands, and most styles. Shopping for them is exhausting because they’re so picky about everything. This is when someone has very high or very narrow standards for what they’ll accept. You might call a child a picky eater because they refuse everything except pasta, or a friend could be picky about which restaurants they’re willing to try. Or picture someone apartment hunting who rejects every place because the light isn’t right or the kitchen is too small. The word suggests mild criticism — being selective is fine, but being too selective is annoying. ✏️ “Picky eater” is by far the most common combination — almost everyone knows and uses this expression.
Vivid ExampleThe family spent an hour scrolling through movie options on the screen. Everyone kept suggesting films, but their youngest son was too picky and rejected every single one. They finally gave up and let him choose, which took another twenty minutes.
Examples from the Street
“She’s so picky about food — she won’t eat anything with onions in it.”
She’s extremely fussy and refuses to eat certain things that most people wouldn’t mind
“Don’t be so picky — it’s a perfectly good hotel.”
Stop being so difficult about minor details — there’s nothing wrong with it
“I’m not being picky, but could you redo this part? It’s not quite right.”
I don’t want to seem unreasonable, but this section needs fixing
Common Patterns
be picky (about something) → be excessively selective or hard to please about something
a picky eater → someone (often a child) who refuses many foods
so/really/incredibly picky → emphasise how difficult someone is to satisfy
don’t be (so) picky → telling someone to stop being unreasonably fussy
too picky → so selective that it becomes a problem or prevents progress
not being picky, but… → a softener before making a specific complaint or request
picky about (details/quality/cleanliness) → very particular about specific aspects of something
picky when it comes to → selective specifically in one area
get/become picky → start being more selective than before
can’t afford to be picky → in a situation where you must accept whatever is available
you’re/we’re being too picky → judgement that someone’s standards are unreasonably high
Collocations
3 collocationspicky eater
someone very selective about food
too picky
unreasonably selective
picky about
very particular regarding something
Example Sentences
12 examples
1
My son is such a picky eater — he’ll only have plain pasta with nothing on it
My child is incredibly fussy about food — he refuses everything except basic noodles served completely plain.
2
Don’t be so picky — we’ve already looked at fifteen apartments and you’ve rejected them all
Stop being so difficult to please — we’ve visited fifteen flats and you’ve said no to every single one.
3
She’s very picky about grammar — even a misplaced comma bothers her
She’s extremely particular when it comes to written accuracy — even a punctuation mark in the wrong place irritates her.
4
In this job market, graduates can’t afford to be picky about their first role
Given how competitive things are right now, people who’ve just finished university have to accept whatever opportunity comes along.
5
I’m not being picky, but the colour you chose for the walls is completely different from what we agreed on
I don’t want to seem unreasonable, but the shade you’ve painted is nothing like the one we originally decided on together.
6
He’s picky when it comes to coffee — he only drinks single-origin beans brewed in a specific way
He’s extremely selective about his hot drinks — he insists on one particular type of bean prepared using a very exact method.
7
The restaurant has a huge menu, so even the pickiest people can find something they like
The place to eat offers such a wide range of dishes that even the fussiest diners will discover something that suits them.
8
She’s getting pickier about who she spends her free time with as she gets older
She’s becoming more selective about the people she chooses to socialise with as the years go by.
9
We were too picky at the beginning and missed out on some great candidates
We were excessively fussy during the early stages and ended up losing some excellent applicants.
10
I know I’m being really picky, but can we move the meeting to 3 o’clock instead of 2:45?
I’m aware this is an unreasonably small request, but would it be possible to shift the discussion by fifteen minutes?
Learner Examples
★
Good teachers are picky about the materials they use in class — a poorly chosen text can confuse students rather than help them
Effective instructors are very selective about the resources they bring into lessons — a badly selected reading passage can leave learners more bewildered than before.
★
Students sometimes say their teacher is too picky about spelling, but attention to detail is exactly what separates strong writing from weak writing
Learners occasionally complain that their instructor is excessively fussy about how words are written, but it’s precisely this care for accuracy that makes the difference between good work and poor work.
Phrasal Verbs & Idioms
2 items
Phrasal Verbspick out — choose carefully from options
She picked out the perfect dress for the wedding.
Idioms & Expressionscherry-pick — select only the best
You can't cherry-pick only the data that supports your argument.
Synonyms & Antonyms
7 items
Synonymsfussy
hard to please
choosy
very selective
particular
specific preferences
finicky
overly careful about choices
Antonymseasygoing
not fussy
flexible
open to anything
undemanding
happy with anything