fuss
an excessive display of anxious attention or activity; needless or useless bustle: They made a fuss over the new baby.
an argument or noisy dispute: They had a fuss about who should wash dishes.
a complaint or protest, especially about something relatively unimportant.
to make a fuss; make much ado about trifles: You'll never finish the job if you fuss over details.
to complain especially about something relatively unimportant.
to disturb, especially with trifles; annoy; bother.
Origin of fuss
1Other words for fuss
Opposites for fuss
Other words from fuss
- fusser, noun
- un·fussed, adjective
- un·fuss·ing, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use fuss in a sentence
She fusses around hospitably, offering radishes, cucumbers, spring onions—and some delicious cheesecakes.
We know Lagerfeld is obsessed with him—and sure enough, when he storms the studio, Lagerfeld makes the biggest of fusses over him.
Karl Lagerfeld Shows His Paternal Side in Carine Roitfeld Documentary | Isabel Wilkinson | September 3, 2013 | THE DAILY BEASTHe fusses, fumes, finds fault, and scolds because everything is not perfect in an imperfect world.
How to be Happy Though Married | E. J. Hardy.Fike, bustles, fusses: still in dialectic use in the northern counties and Scotland.
Even in this volume he fusses too much about the De Guérins.
Res Judicat | Augustine Birrell
He worries and fusses; he “nags,” as we used to say at school; and, when mother and I are quite worn out, his triumph is assured.
A Bundle of Letters | Henry JamesYour father gets so alarmed, and fidgets and fusses, if he thinks that there is anything the matter with you.
A Book of Ghosts | Sabine Baring-Gould
British Dictionary definitions for fuss
/ (fʌs) /
nervous activity or agitation, esp when disproportionate or unnecessary
complaint or objection: he made a fuss over the bill
an exhibition of affection or admiration, esp if excessive: they made a great fuss over the new baby
a quarrel; dispute
(intr) to worry unnecessarily
(intr) to be excessively concerned over trifles
(when intr, usually foll by over) to show great or excessive concern, affection, etc (for)
(intr foll by with) Jamaican to quarrel violently
(tr) to bother (a person)
Origin of fuss
1Derived forms of fuss
- fusser, noun
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Other Idioms and Phrases with fuss
In addition to the idiom beginning with fuss
- fuss and feathers
also see:
- kick up a fuss
- make a fuss
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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