1.
fastidiousness about cleanliness; germaphobia
An extreme concern with cleanliness and hygiene, often to the point of being unable to tolerate dirt or germs.
彼は潔癖症だ。
He has an obsession with cleanliness.
潔癖すぎて、他人のコップを使えない。
She is so fastidious about cleanliness that she can't use other people's cups.
潔癖な性格のせいで、共同生活がうまくいかないことがある。
Because of her fastidious personality, communal living sometimes doesn't go well.
2.
moral fastidiousness; moral rigidity
An uncompromising insistence on moral purity or correctness, unable to tolerate even minor ethical lapses.
道徳的に潔癖な人だ。
He is a morally fastidious person.
金銭に関しては潔癖だ。
He is scrupulous when it comes to money.
政治家には潔癖さが求められるが、現実には妥協も必要だ。
Politicians are expected to be morally upright, but in reality compromises are also necessary.
Functions both as a noun and as a na-adjective (潔癖な). Sense 1 (cleanliness obsession) is more common in everyday conversation, while sense 2 (moral strictness) appears more in written or formal contexts. The compound 潔癖症 is very common and implies a near-pathological level of cleanliness obsession.
COMMON COLLOCATIONS:
- 潔癖症: mysophobia; cleanliness obsession
- 潔癖な性格: fastidious personality
- 潔癖すぎる: too fastidious
- 金銭的に潔癖: scrupulous about money
SIMILAR WORDS:
- きれい好き: cleanliness-loving — a milder, more positive term for liking cleanliness
- 神経質: nervous; neurotic — broader term for being overly sensitive or anxious about things
- 几帳面: meticulous; precise — focuses on being methodical and orderly, not specifically about cleanliness