Definition

1. Adjective:
   • Fussy / Overly meticulous: Describes a person who pays excessive attention to minor, trivial, or intricate details, often to an unnecessary degree.
   • Finicky / Nitpicky: Characterizes someone who is overly concerned with small, often unimportant, specifics.

Usage Examples

• Adjective:
  • Bà ấy rất lẩn mẩn khi chọn rau, nhặt từng cọng một. (She is very fussy when picking vegetables, selecting each stem one by one.)
  • Đừng có lẩn mẩn với mấy chi tiết nhỏ nhặt như vậy. (Don't be so finicky about such trivial details.)
  • Tính anh ấy lẩn mẩn, việc gì cũng phải kiểm tra kỹ. (He has a meticulous nature; he has to check everything carefully.)

Advanced Usage

• The word often carries a slightly negative or critical connotation, implying that the level of attention is excessive, inefficient, or annoying.

Variants and Related Words

• Tỉ mẩn / Tẩn mẩn (adj): These are close synonyms, also meaning meticulous or painstaking, but may carry a slightly less negative connotation than lẩn mẩn.

Synonyms

• Fussy: Excessively concerned with minor details.
• Finicky: Extremely particular, especially about trivial matters.
• Nitpicky: Looking for small, unimportant errors or faults.
• Overly meticulous: Paying too much attention to detail.

Related Idioms

• While lẩn mẩn itself is not typically part of a fixed idiom, its meaning is central to describing behavior in phrases like:
  • Làm việc một cách lẩn mẩn: to work in a fussy, overly detailed manner.