From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishfussfuss1 /fʌs/ ●○○ noun [singular, uncountable] 1 PROBLEManxious behaviour or activity that is usually about unimportant things James said he’d better be getting back or there’d be a fuss. The Steamatic enables you to clean any carpet with the minimum of fuss.2 ATTENTIONattention or excitement that is usually unnecessary or unwelcome They wanted a quiet wedding without any fuss. Until I heard her sing I couldn’t see what all the fuss was about (=why people liked it so much).3 → make a fuss/kick up a fuss (about something)4 → make a fuss of somebody/something
Examples from the Corpus
fuss• Yes, in fact Emilou cried, and Wendi had made a fuss about the mascara on my sixty-buck shirt.• Seb's father was a large, comfortable-looking man who did not seem disposed to make a fuss.• I liked the novelty and fuss and being the centre of attention.• The current fuss about San Jose's proposed downtown arena has been noticed in other parts of the state.• Then, later, there was all that fuss in the papers about Mark and Anne.• Passengers strained to see what all the fuss was about.• Indeed, Carville himself reacted to the fuss by sounding as though he were having second thoughts.• She couldn't see why there was all this fuss, or even why her father had to get married at all.be a fuss• Beside him, the old cook Chucha is fussing with a coaster for his glass.• Immediately beside him Kegan was fussing with sheets of paper, arranging and rearranging them into neat aligned squares.• Thomasina at this time was fussing around the table.• We spent a day together when it was finished because I knew there was going to be a fuss.what all the fuss was about• At last, she realized what all the fuss was about.• No, I just wanted to see what all the fuss was about.• Travellers would go miles out of their way to see what all the fuss was about.• That's surely what all the fuss was about.• Nina, of course, was furious and could not understand what all the fuss was about.• Not bad, you think, but you wonder what all the fuss was about.• A decade from now we might, as you suggest, be wondering what all the fuss was about.fussfuss2 verb [intransitive] 1 WORRIEDto worry a lot about things that may not be very important I wish you’d stop fussing – I’ll be perfectly all right.2 IMPORTANTto pay too much attention to small unimportant detailsfuss with/around/about Paul was fussing with his clothes, trying to get his tie straight.3 American EnglishANGRY to behave in an unhappy or angry way The baby woke up and started to fuss. → fuss over somebody/something→ See Verb tableExamples from the Corpus
fuss• Many pairs and triplets show the relative strength of the noun: Jill fusses.• They were people who really let themselves go on high days and holidays, not likely to fuss about anything left over.• Mary Alice fussed and squirmed until she got her bottle.• At the end of it is a Paris suburb, a bed with cool white linen and nuns fussing around me.• Thomasina at this time was fussing around the table.• Everybody fussed over his brilliance to a great degree; he was a focal point at our school.• He famously fussed over his seating below the salt on Air Force One.• I don't want to have Nicky Scott Wilson fussing round me like a wretched nanny while you're away.• Paquita fusses with the white cloth, twitching it back and forth, minutely rearranging its folds.fuss with/around/about• How she would have skewered all this passing fuss with her incisive wit!• Immediately beside him Kegan was fussing with sheets of paper, arranging and rearranging them into neat aligned squares.• Why fuss about the island variety?• Henry wished now that he'd not made such a fuss about the perishing uniform.• She fusses with the seat belt.• Paquita fusses with the white cloth, twitching it back and forth, minutely rearranging its folds.• The greybeards made a quite unnecessary fuss about this and I was forced to employ my stout stick.• She was probably making a big fuss about very little, said a small voice inside her.Origin fuss1 (1700-1800) Perhaps from the sound of someone breathing quickly and excitedly 