ANAL-RETENTIVE Synonyms: 111 Similar and Opposite Words

anal-retentive

adjective

Definition of anal-retentive

as in stubborn

extremely or overly neat, careful, or precise My anal-retentive brother keeps records of everything that happens in his life.

Related Words

Relevance

Dissimilar Words

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of anal-retentive But there would be no grease-drinking, Judas-playing Sandy without his anal-retentive best friend, Reuben Feffer. — Sean Malin, Vulture, 5 Sep. 2024 Conventional management practices suppress everything that isn’t vine by mowing, tilling, and spraying herbicide with an intensity that ranges from anal-retentive to paranoid. — Kevin West, Travel + Leisure, 24 July 2024 One might be forgiven for also thinking that the identification is not so much between the audience and the killer as between Fincher, who is known as something of a filmmaking fusspot, and his anal-retentive central character. — Michael O'Sullivan, Washington Post, 25 Oct. 2023

Recent Examples of Synonyms for anal-retentive

Adjective

Colombia earned its passage into the round of 16 with a 1-0 win over stubborn Ghana.

— Kevin Baxter, Los Angeles Times, 6 July 2026
Pickle Robot’s Physical AI unloaders tackle the dock door bottleneck, which is a stubborn pain point in inbound logistics, while AmbiStack handles the structured, high-volume stacking that feeds downstream operations.

— Arthur Zaczkiewicz, Footwear News, 6 July 2026

Definition of stubborn

Adjective

This highly competent, obsessive duo tumbles into a self-destructive cat-and-mouse dynamic — but who’s the cat and who’s the mouse?

— Sara Netzley, Entertainment Weekly, 2 July 2026
However, popular culture can’t fully explain why summer camps hold such a nostalgic and almost obsessive place in the nation’s collective consciousness.

— Derek H. Alderman, The Conversation, 26 June 2026

Definition of obsessive

Adjective

Some people still pursue that dream in the dry, dogged manner that Meagher did.

— Kaitlyn Tiffany, The Atlantic, 20 June 2026
Smart, ambitious and dogged, she is not burdened by a dark past or traumatic pain or the generally dour outlook that plague so many of her peers.

— Culture Critic, Los Angeles Times, 8 June 2026

Definition of dogged

Adjective

Without stricter coordination, brightness limits, debris controls, disposal rules, and international capacity planning, the next space race could damage the orbital lanes on which modern life now depends.

— Atharva Gosavi, Interesting Engineering, 6 July 2026
Not a whole lot, admittedly, since there was reportedly a strict no-phone policy for guests (as well as event staff and security).

— Jon Blistein, Rolling Stone, 6 July 2026

Definition of strict

Adjective

While waiting to go to court, Zaayer remained adamant that Shawna needed to go to prison but was also convinced that David — who worked at the nearby jail — was protecting his wife from receiving an adequate punishment, per The Guardian.

— Caroline Blair, PEOPLE, 3 July 2026
But Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) has been adamant that there are not enough votes in the Senate to pass the legislation, given the 60-vote filibuster threshold.

— Mabinty Quarshie, The Washington Examiner, 28 June 2026

Definition of adamant

Browse Nearby Words

analphabetic

anal-retentive

anal-retentiveness

See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

Style

“Anal-retentive.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/anal-retentive. Accessed 9 Jul. 2026.

Copy Citation

Synonyms of anal-retentive

adjective

Example Sentences

Browse Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

tacit

Popular in Grammar & Usage

Is that lie 'bald-faced' or 'bold-faced'?

'A' or 'an'? What about before 'h'? An Indefinite Article Guide

Why is '-ed' sometimes pronounced at the end of a word?

Commonly Misspelled Words

How to Use Em Dashes (—), En Dashes (–) , and Hyphens (-)

Popular in Wordplay

14 Phobias You Probably Haven't Heard Of

The Longest Long Words List

One-Word Oxymorons: Bittersweet, Spendthrift, and More

Ten Words Ending with a Silent ‘T’

12 Lovely and Unusual Words for the Natural World

Popular

Is that lie 'bald-faced' or 'bold-faced'?

14 Phobias You Probably Haven't Heard Of

The Longest Long Words List

Games & Quizzes