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Glite Dictionary
fuss-budget

fuss-budget

9.9
A person who worries about small things for no reason
  • noun
  • /ˈfəsˌbədʒɪt/
  • Informal
translation icon : preocupón
  • He's always been a fuss-budget, worrying about the smallest details.

Examples

  • What's the matter, you going to be a fuss-budget all your life?

    Lost Horizon (1937)

  • Here comes that fuss-budget Marsden.

    Strange Interlude (1932)

  • FRED STICKLEY, a fuss-budget plant manager, leads. # STICKLEY #

    Fiction book (1995)

  • Don't be such a fuss-budget; everything will be fine in the end.

  • My sister is a complete fuss-budget when it comes to organizing family events.

Synonyms

worrier
vsfuss-budget
8 3.2

A person who often feels nervous about small problems

worries excessively about unimportant matters rather than general future concerns
worrywart
vsfuss-budget
  • Informal
5 8.2

A person who often feels anxious about small or unlikely problems

focuses on unimportant present matters rather than unlikely future events
fussbudget
vsfuss-budget
  • Informal
1 8.8

A person who often complains about small, not important things

is the same meaning but written with a hyphen
fusspot
vsfuss-budget
  • Informal
1 9.5

A person who worries about small details and wants everything neat

worries more generally about unimportant matters rather than only details
botherer
vsfuss-budget
7.7

A person who worries a lot about small things

worries needlessly about trivial things rather than mainly getting upset
rivet counter
vsfuss-budget
  • Jargon
8.9

A person who cares too much about small unimportant details in a hobby or project

worries about small matters broadly not only technical hobby details

Surface Forms

fuss-budget singular
fuss-budgets plural

Morphology

fuss-budget = fuss + budget (semi-transparent) = fuss + budget

The components 'fuss' and 'budget' are visible, but the meaning is not fully predictable from the modern sense of 'budget' (financial plan), so learners may only partially infer the meaning.

Etymology

Fuss-budget joins fuss ('small worry or complaint') with budget ('a plan for money' or 'an allowance'). A helpful way to remember it is to imagine someone who keeps a tiny 'budget' of worries and spends it on unimportant things, so a fuss-budget is a person who worries too much about small details.