methodical

[ muh-thod-i-kuhl ]
See synonyms for: methodicalmethodicallymethodicalness on Thesaurus.com

adjective
  1. performed, disposed, or acting in a systematic way; systematic; orderly: a methodical person.

  2. painstaking, especially slow and careful; deliberate.

Origin of methodical

1
First recorded in 1560–70; methodic, from Latin methodic(us) or directly from Greek methodikós; see method, -ic + -al1
  • Rarely me·thod·ic [muh-thod-ik] /məˈθɒd ɪk/ .

synonym study For methodical

1. See orderly.

Other words for methodical

Other words from methodical

  • me·thod·i·cal·ly, adverb
  • me·thod·i·cal·ness, noun
  • an·ti·me·thod·ic, adjective
  • an·ti·me·thod·i·cal, adjective
  • an·ti·me·thod·i·cal·ness, noun
  • non·me·thod·ic, adjective
  • non·me·thod·i·cal, adjective
  • non·me·thod·i·cal·ness, noun
  • pre·me·thod·i·cal, adjective
  • qua·si-me·thod·i·cal, adjective
  • un·me·thod·ic, adjective
  • un·me·thod·i·cal, adjective
  • un·me·thod·i·cal·ness, noun

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use methodical in a sentence

  • In his methodic preparations and clandestine deployments he knows precisely what carnage he aims to create.

  • As to death, the scientific mind dies at its post working in normal and methodic fashion to the end.

    The Poison Belt | Arthur Conan Doyle
  • Could any one imagine so many millions slipping through the fingers of M. de Thaller's methodic cashier?

    Other People's Money | Emile Gaboriau
  • In all those preparations he forgot nothing, employing every minute of the few hours in a sort of methodic exaltation.

    The Dark Flower | John Galsworthy
  • That he felt himself abnormally methodic lay entirely in the fact that he watered the fern each day.

    Kenny | Leona Dalrymple

British Dictionary definitions for methodical

methodical

less commonly methodic

/ (mɪˈθɒdɪkəl) /


adjective
  1. characterized by method or orderliness; systematic

Derived forms of methodical

  • methodically, adverb
  • methodicalness, noun

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012