What's the difference between fidget and fuss?

Fidget


Definition:

  • (v. i.) To move uneasily one way and the other; to move irregularly, or by fits and starts.
  • (n.) Uneasiness; restlessness.
  • (n.) A general nervous restlessness, manifested by incessant changes of position; dysphoria.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Updated at 5.11pm BST 5.07pm BST 68th over: Sri Lanka 251-9 (Herath 10, Pradeep 11) Plunkett sends one towards Herath's visage, and he fidgets it down without looking happy in the process, before Pradeep guides one over the slips and gets two.
  • (2) Hyperactive, and fidgeting behavior in children, is not a new syndrome, but has been present in children for centuries.
  • (3) Small wonder that the few fans left were sat fidgeting in silence, that the injured David Villa, Carlos Marchena, Rubén Baraja and Santi Cañizares had their heads in their hands up in the stands, or that the Youmus ultras turned their backs on the pitch.
  • (4) At one point, I fidget with my glasses so as to read the programme – Chloe swings round and throws me a stinging glance of reproach, like a seasoned concert-goer scolding a child – rather than the other way round.
  • (5) As one question follows another he fidgets, criss-crosses legs, examines my phone, broods, winces, tugs his hair, yanks it up, then down, then to the side, momentarily creating a mad professor effect which would be funny were it not for the death stare.
  • (6) The characters are always smiling, frowning, blushing, twitching, fidgeting, touching, kissing, bowing, sobbing, and deconstructing these signs in each other.
  • (7) Civil war still a bitter memory as El Salvador prepares to beatify Romero Read more Instead, the federal public defender who has taken on Montano’s case, James E Todd, bombarded the court with 44 pieces of evidence – mostly declassified diplomatic cables from the time – all of which he slowly read aloud for several hours as the prosecutor openly fidgeted and rolled his eyes.
  • (8) The propositus, a 57-year-old man, suffered from repeated, intense, asymmetric flexion jerks of the lower extremities, alternating with fidgeting and friction movements of the legs; all occurred at night prior to sleep and severely interfering with it.
  • (9) We have good evidence that certain behaviours – scratching or fidgeting – is an indicator of anxiety, and in certain zoos those behaviours increase in frequency as visitor numbers go up and they get more noisy.” According to Dr Emily Bethell, senior lecturer in primate behaviour at Liverpool John Moores University , the fact a captive gorilla was charging at the glass, banging on objects or throwing objects did not necessarily mean it was unhappy, since this was classic “display” behaviour designed to assert his dominance.
  • (10) "Quite the opposite," says Bird, his fidgeting kicking up a gear.
  • (11) What was actually being transmitted, for what now seems an eternity, was us: sitting, staring, frowning, fidgeting.
  • (12) Her anxiety was manifested by facial twitching, hand fidgeting, vocal tremor, loss of self-esteem, and depression.
  • (13) He fidgeted and moved constantly, tapping on his smartphone, buying arms, selling rockets, importing cars and arranging schooling for his many nephews and nieces.
  • (14) The most obvious evidence of lowered vigilance is motor restlessness (fidgeting and moving about, yawning and stretching, talkativeness, or a combination of these) to improve alertness when sitting or standing still or when involved in tasks requiring continuous mental performance.
  • (15) Ectomesenchyme affected by the white gene stimulated optic-vesicle growth, to some extent suppressing the effect of the fidget gene.
  • (16) Urban and electronica have thrown up endless new sub-genres: there was crunk and hyphy in the US, while in Britain you could take your pick from dubstep, grime, fidget house, purple wow, sublow, 8-bar or eski-beat.
  • (17) Mourinho fidgeted frustratedly in his technical area, his mood darkened when Ryan Bennett swung his leg to challenge Hazard in the area with the Belgian leaping to avoid the limb and tumbling to the turf as a result.
  • (18) After much fidgeting and prevarication, Cain eventually claimed he would have done a better job than the president.
  • (19) And so I sat fidgeting, scrawling on the newspapers, peering and shuffling.
  • (20) They had Nike shopping bags and new jeans, and the smuggler was – as usual – fidgeting with his phone.

Fuss


Definition:

  • (n.) A tumult; a bustle; unnecessary or annoying ado about trifles.
  • (n.) One who is unduly anxious about trifles.
  • (v. i.) To be overbusy or unduly anxious about trifles; to make a bustle or ado.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) But insiders say the industry has been watering down the proposals, and no amount of fussing over the detail is going to get round the central point.
  • (2) But minutes after the final whistle, 76% of respondents to a Corriere della Sport online poll were blaming Lippi and in the post-match press conference the man himself was quick to take the blame, appearing to be anxiously awaiting the moment he can disappear quietly from the scene to be replaced by the Fiorentina manager, Cesare Prandelli, a switch decided with little fuss and no media debate just before the World Cup.
  • (3) The decade of the Delors presidency from 1985 saw further steps towards integration taken with relatively little fuss.
  • (4) Mel The squirrel in series two, with the balls [incidental footage of a squirrel caused a fuss on social media in 2011].
  • (5) But the Depp dog furore is a perfect example of the different approach Joyce will take to leading the Nationals – the rural-based minor party in the governing Coalition that has in recent years had a series of gentlemanly leaders who, wherever possible, have settled differences with their Coalition parties quietly, created public fusses only rarely, and international incidents never.
  • (6) It is now on sale in the store after publisher Europa Editions kicked up a fuss.
  • (7) If a contractor was involved in an incident which caused a fuss, they were whisked out of the country by their company.
  • (8) I don't see what all the fuss is about Germany v England.
  • (9) Such was its challenge that, when it was found in the library of a school run by the Inner London Education Authority in 1986, the fuss exploded and the book was subsequently cited as one of the spurs to the controversial Section 28 of the Local Government Act of 1988.
  • (10) He has long been called a "rock star president" and there was lots of fuss in Thailand preceding US president Barack Obama's first visit to Bangkok on Sunday.
  • (11) Outside, there’s no sign of life except one bearded oaf on a chopper and a kid at the back door, holding a picture of Hot Fuss-era Brandon Flowers , praying for a brief encounter.
  • (12) Stepping back from the fuss, it is worth thinking about whether the project's aims make sense.
  • (13) Her parents, a midwife and a retired fireman, said they were proud of their supremely focussed, "no fuss" daughter.
  • (14) He attracts controversy in February while denying Jermain Defoe elbowed Nicolás Otamendi, saying foreign players “make a big fuss of it.
  • (15) The fuss over who should pay for this scheme has, rather sadly in my view, overshadowed its goals.
  • (16) Perhaps air pollution hasn’t been solved because no one makes a fuss: scarier than the smog in Delhi , Kolkata and London is the stoicism of residents for whom bad air has become part of daily life.
  • (17) To this end it is they, not politicians, who need to be making a fuss about full-face veils and the need to phase them out.
  • (18) Some case notes make harrowing reading: cells occupied by disabled prisoners with no wall bars and inmates having to drag themselves across the floor and falling frequently; PAS "having to make a fuss" to get inmates supplied with basic needs, such as walking sticks, which are then taken away when a prisoner moves prison; and an incontinent prisoner with mental health problems sleeping naked on a urine-soaked mattress.
  • (19) Why quite such a fuss when nothing much actually happened?
  • (20) The infant's state was recorded on a check-list every 10 sec using the following categories for sleep and wakefulness: Quiet Sleep A, Quiet Sleep B, Active Sleep Without REM, Active Sleep With REM, Active Sleep With Dense REM, Drowsy, Alert Inactivity, WAKING Activity, Fussing, Crying, and Indefinite State.