What's the difference between fickle and picky?

Fickle


Definition:

  • (a.) Not fixed or firm; liable to change; unstable; of a changeable mind; not firm in opinion or purpose; inconstant; capricious; as, Fortune's fickle wheel.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Light testing equipment is fickle by nature, making such units uncommon.
  • (2) Over the last five years in particular, the main parties' opinion poll ratings have been strikingly fickle.
  • (3) This was a risky proposition that depended on the good will of gentrifiers, who are famously fickle.
  • (4) Vinny's fame was quick, fickle and fizzled out a generation ago, hence leaving him quite literally sleeping in a skip, pickled by booze.
  • (5) It is also unthinking because it takes little account of the pending impact of the falling terms of trade and the sluggish domestic economy, which is being held back by chronic weakness in consumer sentiment and fickle business conditions.
  • (6) They were there to record everything from his despair at the fickleness of his recruits, to the distress of his wife Jools at the way the media had invaded their privacy, with scurrilous rumours of infidelity.
  • (7) Bowie wasn't a traditional pop star, happy to be known for one sound or idea then to be discarded by a fickle public.
  • (8) Washington has long been a fan of the petro-dollar and Obama is proving another fickle enthusiast, flirting with the industry one moment, even as he snaps at it the next – like the coquettish mistress of an oil tycoon.
  • (9) Could he build a winner to win over sometimes fickle Miami fans?
  • (10) Raquel Paiva, professor of communications at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, said Brazil was a fickle nation that would probably soon forget this humiliation.
  • (11) The digital audience is more fickle: we have multiple subscriptions to magazines and newspapers; we leave a spray of comments on different websites.
  • (12) It is a strange and fickle beast, a flexible friend, dubious and duplicitous, as I was about to find out.
  • (13) How fickle the rest of the country is to forget its history at the expense of cheaper foreign imports.
  • (14) These moves are significant because the above list includes some strongly backed National candidates – especially Goold, who led the Headlong company, and Featherstone – but no recent appointee to another theatre could now express interest in Hytner's job without disqualifying themselves because of the appearance of fickleness.
  • (15) Bernard had become well aware of the fickle ways of Fleet Street and had become canny.
  • (16) At nearly 50, Ross will need to remain in the public eye lest the fickle world of TV starts to forget about him, but there are other ways of staying noticed in the digital era.
  • (17) The Scottish National party has repeatedly claimed that English and Welsh politicians would force Scotland to accept cuts or the loss of the Barnett formula if there was a no vote, accusing Westminster parties of being fickle.
  • (18) While the site is still sizeable it has lost users, business and momentum – extremely dangerous territory for anyone in the fickle internet business.
  • (19) Given the fickle and hypercritical nature of the group, in conceiving Spamalot Idle had to manage his expectations.
  • (20) She experienced something that transcended her pretty fickle and changeable musical allegiances.

Picky


Definition:

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Pickiness and concern with weight were more common in girls than in boys, and the prevalence of pickiness declined with age.
  • (2) Writing in the Daily Telegraph in December, Johnson, then mayor of London, said the west could not afford to be picky in its choice of allies since Isis in Syria could not be defeated without terrestrial forces.
  • (3) When searching for gay parenting in kids' movies, I found the short film Family Restaurant , about a picky toothpick dispenser who thinks ketchup bottles shouldn't be allowed to date; he changes his tune after learning a valuable lesson from a little boy with two dads.
  • (4) And being ultra picky, the nicely charred, coarsely ground patty (of prime Northern Irish beef) could do with a shade more seasoning, too.
  • (5) Unsurprisingly, the uproar forced the company to backtrack within 48 hours and promise even newer firmware that wouldn’t be so picky.
  • (6) While it seems we have a natural inclination to love ice cream, most of us are not too picky about how we take our fix.
  • (7) With all this going on, never mind global warming, we appear to be entering an era of hyper-picky sexual freeze.
  • (8) There, at a remove, he’s picky about the stuff he’s offered.
  • (9) If we are going to be picky and try to find one lingering complaint about the way Arsenal handed Manchester United this sobering reality check, it can be only that Arsène Wenger’s team should remind us of their brilliance more often.
  • (10) Miura concedes that she and her boyfriend are "picky" about food.
  • (11) Some people are very particular about the characteristics they want their child to have, "but normally by the time people have made that big emotional jump, they're not going to be picky about hair colour.
  • (12) It would, in any case, suit Boris (whose second mayoral term runs until May, 2016) if the contest to succeed Cameron were held later; and (to be really picky) with the Tories still in power.
  • (13) When I meet Gensler and Venus, they assure me that discussions are going well with the Port of London Authority , which manages the river and is notoriously picky about intrusions on it.
  • (14) Even after that terrible date, my friends and family told me I was being too picky, and that unless I relaxed my standards, I'd never get married.
  • (15) Show me someone who likes their meat overcooked and I will show you a picky eater, someone who regards meal times as a set of challenges and insults to be negotiated, like oil-slicked chicanes on a race track.
  • (16) Call me picky, but a close-up of something slicing fat like a Sunday roast is quite off-putting.
  • (17) All in all we can’t be too picky – it was a good all-round performance.
  • (18) "I have to take any job I can get, because [while] they serve meals here, he is picky about what he eats.
  • (19) Pedro Martinez is on the TBS pregame show here in the US and says the Cardinals have to be careful, because the Dodgers are going to be "very picky" if they hit him or come close to hitting the shortstop.
  • (20) As qualifying group winners, Northern Ireland have earned the right to be picky.