as in stubborn
extremely or overly neat, careful, or precise
My anal-retentive brother keeps records of everything that happens in his life.
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Recent Examples of anal-retentive
But there would be no grease-drinking, Judas-playing Sandy without his anal-retentive best friend, Reuben Feffer.
—
Sean Malin, Vulture, 5 Sep. 2024
Conventional management practices suppress everything that isn’t vine by mowing, tilling, and spraying herbicide with an intensity that ranges from anal-retentive to paranoid.
—Kevin West, Travel + Leisure, 24 July 2024
One might be forgiven for also thinking that the identification is not so much between the audience and the killer as between Fincher, who is known as something of a filmmaking fusspot, and his anal-retentive central character.
—Michael O'Sullivan, Washington Post, 25 Oct. 2023
Recent Examples of Synonyms for anal-retentive
Adjective
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These two ingredients mixed together creates a powerful mixture perfect for lifting stubborn stains off grout because of their high cleaning and brightening properties.—
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The vinegar cleaning method isn’t foolproof, and sometimes stubborn residue can remain on your microwave walls.—
Adjective
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Extreme deficits may lead to obsessive food tracking, anxiety around eating, or disordered eating patterns.—
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Any new publication of hers is mandatory reading, and not just because transgender Americans are under an obsessive, incessant series of assaults from the current administration and the right more broadly.—
Adjective
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The Pats are back because of who their quarterback has become, and who Mike Vrabel is as a head coach; a man capable of steeling a brittle roster into a dogged competitor.—
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And in a recent piece for Foreign Affairs, drawing on a new book co-authored with Hussein Agha, Malley argues that the cause of that disappointment is Washington’s dogged insistence on a two-state solution that neither Israelis nor Palestinians really want.—
Adjective
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Capping those rates could backfire, resulting in significantly stricter lending standards and making credit unavailable to lower-income people or those with lower credit scores.—
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Per his release, the rapper must follow strict guidelines for the next five years, such as no alcohol, drug testing, and federal supervision when opening bank accounts.—
Adjective
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Stephen Miller made these comments on CNN and was adamant that this would happen.—
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Although the film would have been far easier to finance if the production took place in another country, Hadi was adamant about shooting in his homeland.—
Cite this Entry
“Anal-retentive.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/anal-retentive. Accessed 13 Jan. 2026.
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