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Synonyms

meticulously

American  
[muh-tik-yuh-luhs-lee] / məˈtɪk jə ləs li /

adverb

  1. in a way that shows extreme care about minute details; in a precise and thorough way, sometimes to an excessive degree.

    He'd had collections of various kinds as a kid, each of them meticulously sorted and, yes, even inventoried.


Other Word Forms

Etymology

Origin of meticulously

meticulous ( def. ) + -ly

Explanation

If you clean your house meticulously, you take plenty of time and scour every single nook and cranny, maybe even behind the oven and under the doormat. Meticulous means extremely careful and thorough, so if you do something meticulously, you are painstaking about doing it perfectly. Someone who would never leave her house with an un-ironed t-shirt or a thread hanging loose is someone who dresses meticulously. If your town historian documents every event, from births to remodeled living rooms, then she does her job meticulously, maybe a little too meticulously.

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Vocabulary lists containing meticulously

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.

See Examples For:

Once shared online, people meticulously study the choreography in them and delight in catching subtle movements and expressions by their favourite band members.

From BBC Aug. 6, 2026

He came to my school shows, and even when I moved to Orange County, we still meticulously planned our weekends together.

From Los Angeles Times Jul. 31, 2026

There, rows of whirring white tanks filled with seawater host creatures like coral, giant clams and clownfish in what are meticulously controlled to resemble natural marine environments.

From Barron's Jul. 29, 2026

She widened her search filters and went on 10 more dates across seven guys, meticulously evaluating each, before connecting with a software engineer.

From The Wall Street Journal Jul. 27, 2026

Dandy, too, was an influence, meticulously correcting our grammar or admonishing us to enunciate our words when we went over for dinner.

From "Becoming" by Michelle Obama

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