meticulous
Americanadjective
Synonym Usage
See painstaking.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Etymology
Origin of meticulous
First recorded in 1525–35; from Latin metīculōsus “full of fear, fearful,” equivalent to metī- for metū- (stem of metus “fear”) + -culōsus, extracted from perīculōsus “dangerous” ( see perilous)
Explanation
Someone who is meticulous pays extreme attention to detail. If that person is, say, your surgeon or your accountant, you'll definitely want them to be meticulous! The Latin root of meticulous is metus, which means "fear." Someone who's meticulous is afraid of what will happen if they're not careful enough to get every detail right. "Detail-oriented" and "perfectionist" are other ways of describing someone who cares deeply about the small things and about getting things exactly right, every time. Concert pianists must be meticulous, because audiences are always listening for wrong notes.
Vocabulary lists containing meticulous
100 Words Every Middle Schooler Should Know
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Essential Academic Vocabulary for High School Students, List 1
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List 2
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The pickleball-equipment market alone was valued at $1.61 billion in 2024, and is projected to grow to $3.1 billion by 2031, per Meticulous Research.
From MarketWatch • Jan. 17, 2026
Meticulous in his habits and wedded to his routines, George loves the sterile formality of the police interview room, where, unmoved by the emotional outbursts of others, he patiently sifts fact from fabrication.
From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 28, 2025
Meticulous dissection of these specimens revealed 17,702 parasites that were members of 85 different species, allowing Dr. Wood and her colleagues to infer how population abundance has changed over time.
From New York Times • Jan. 9, 2023
Meticulous planning was needed, he said, to keep dozens of people eating well throughout their journey.
From BBC • Nov. 15, 2022
Well, at first, She seemed a little school ma’am, quaint, demure, Meticulous and puritanical.
From Domesday Book by Masters, Edgar Lee
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
