conscientious
Americanadjective
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governed by conscience; controlled by or done according to one's inner sense of what is right; principled.
She's a conscientious judge, who does not let personal prejudices influence her decisions.
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careful and painstaking; particular; meticulous; scrupulous.
conscientious application to the work at hand.
adjective
-
involving or taking great care; painstaking; diligent
-
governed by or done according to conscience
Related Words
See painstaking.
Other Word Forms
- conscientiously adverb
- conscientiousness noun
- hyperconscientious adjective
- hyperconscientiously adverb
- hyperconscientiousness noun
- overconscientious adjective
- overconscientiously adverb
- unconscientious adjective
- unconscientiously adverb
- unconscientiousness noun
Etymology
Origin of conscientious
First recorded in 1605–15; from Medieval Latin conscientiōsus, equivalent to Latin conscienti(a) conscience + -ōsus -ous
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.
Ms. Doucet populates the book with sympathetic characters—the “real cement and steel of the Inter-Con”—conscientious and kind Afghans who keep the hotel going as regimes collapse, rulers change, mores alter.
Yet whenever Americans leave their houses, they see their country full of conscientious, smart, hard-working people, some of whom already work in politics at the state and local level.
But the show’s sophisticated storytelling and trove of rare artifacts are most likely to delight conscientious tourists and the already historically engaged.
Young men were able to choose either to serve or, if they were conscientious objectors, opt for social work.
From BBC
I happen to be someone who is hilariously conscientious and intensely empathic.
From Los Angeles Times
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.