Finicality

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. An attitude that emphasizes an excessive focus on minor details and precision in matters of taste or aesthetics
2. The characteristic of being overly particular or meticulous, especially regarding style and intricate particulars
3. A tendency to show an overly refined concern for trivial or minute details especially in appearance or manners

Etymology: Finicality is simply the noun form of "finical," with the suffix "-ity" added to turn an adjective describing fussiness into a noun naming the quality itself. The adjective "finical" is the base, so the whole word is a straightforward derivation rather than a coinage with a story behind it. The suffix does the real work here. "-ity" attaches to adjectives to name a state or quality, the same pattern seen in "rapidity" or "sanity." Once "finical" described someone overly particular about small details, adding "-ity" let speakers talk about that trait as a thing in its own right, a kind of fussy meticulousness that can be observed in a person's prose, dress or manners. Because the word is built transparently from its parts, its meaning follows the adjective closely. Anyone who knows that a finical person is fastidious can read "finicality" as the condition of being fastidious, which is why the term remains easy to understand even though it is rarely used.

Synonyms: fussiness, fastidiousness