fuddy-duddery

noun

An action or view associated with a fuddy-duddy.

“The ban on splitting infinitives is fuddy-duddery, pure and simple.”

Ask AI about this wordChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

Meanings

nounfuddy-duddery (uncountable)
  1. uncountableAn action or view associated with a fuddy-duddy.

    The ban on splitting infinitives is fuddy-duddery, pure and simple.

    3 more examples

    Now nothing would have been easier than to let all this sag into a compendium of antiquarian fuddy-duddery. Instead, the dry bones stir into flesh-and-blood issues vital to our time.

    1936, “The Man of the Month: Samuel Eliot Morison”, in The Atlantic, volume 158, page 384

    Thank you and congratulations for your invigorating articles on decimal coinage and the reform of our national accounts (January 18th issue) - two notable blows in the fight against fuddy-duddery!

    1958, N. K. Easton, “Appreciation”, in The Accountant, volume 138, page 135

    "Do you believe in this outmoded piece of fuddy-duddery called monogamy, eh? Or would you agree that some men should have more than one wife?"

    1973, Fergus Macpherson, One Finger, page 175

Origin

From fuddy-duddy + -ery.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

fuddy-duddery. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/fuddy-duddery

MLA

“fuddy-duddery.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/fuddy-duddery. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “fuddy-duddery,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/fuddy-duddery.

Source: fuddy-duddery on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.