Sticklerism

noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    The behaviour of a stickler; inflexible adherence to rules. derogatory, uncountable

    "“We, the intellectually curious, may soon find ourselves trapped in a pen, fenced in by rule-bound sticklerism and overzealous concern for our personal safety, unless we exercise our civil liberties and our curiosity,” he declaims."

  2. 2
    The behaviour of a stickler; inflexible adherence to rules. wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
fascismpunctiliousness

Example

More examples

"“We, the intellectually curious, may soon find ourselves trapped in a pen, fenced in by rule-bound sticklerism and overzealous concern for our personal safety, unless we exercise our civil liberties and our curiosity,” he declaims."

Etymology

From stickler + -ism.

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.