n. 1
Excessive activity, worry, bother, or talk about something.
What's all the fuss about?
n. 2
A complaint or noise; a scene.
If you make enough of a fuss about the problem, maybe they'll fix it for you.
v. 1
To be very worried or excited about something, often too much.
His grandmother will never quit fussing over his vegetarianism.
v. 2
To fiddle; fidget; wiggle, or adjust
Quit fussing with your hair. It looks fine.

Related words

Forms

Plural: fusses → ados, stirs, troubles, bustles…
Past participle: fussed
e.g. fussed → fretted, niggled, mothered, overprotected…

ado Without further ado, I say goodbye. Hugs and kisses.
bustle Yanni loved the hustle and bustle of Algiers.
ruckus My kid is aggressive and is always making a ruckus.
hullabaloo Tom and Mary wanted to get married on the quiet to avoid all the hullabaloo.
bickering All this bickering is starting to fray my nerves.
squabble The diplomatic squabble flared into an open war.

Use in printed books, per decade from 1850 to 2019.

3 letters: ado²
4 letters: stir¹, flap¹, spat¹, fret¹, tiff¹, fume¹, roil¹
5 letters: worry², chaos², hurry², annoy², stink¹, furor², chafe¹, tizzy²
6 letters: mother², bother², hassle², uproar², flurry², footer², bustle², ruckus², tumult², bicker², pester², fidget², furore, fracas²
7 letters: trouble², disturb², quarrel², wrangle², agitate³
8 letters: squabble², brouhaha³
9 letters: commotion³, bickering³
10 letters: excitement³, hullabaloo⁴, discompose
11 letters: overprotect⁴
12 letters: pettifoggery

The small number after each word is its number of syllables (ado² = 2 syllables).