fiddly

adjective fiddlier · fiddliest

1. Requiring dexterity to operate. The buttons on the tiny mobile phone were too fiddly.
2. broadly Having many small bits or embellishments. See, Barbados, like certain other fiddly little islands— Antigua, Saint Lucia, Hong Kong, New Zealand, Japan, Great Britain, Australia— is filled with a genus of hotspurs fiercely dedicated to motoring on the wrong side of the road.
3. Of or relating to fiddling or fidgeting. I can divide my movements into two types: gross motor and fine motor (in other words, large movements and small, fiddly movements) and, as I have already described, I have far more problems with the latter than the former.
4. Pertaining to occasional under-the-table work by people who receive unemployment benefits Because benefit dependence was understood to confine people to poverty ('bend the rules - you've got to in this world cause of the pittance you get off the government') and because doing fiddly work indicated a commitment to self-reliance ('at least they're working') it was widely condoned.