meticulous

[muh-tik-yuh-luhs]

adjective

1. taking or showing extreme care about minute details; precise; thorough.

   a meticulous craftsman;

   meticulous personal appearance.

   Synonyms: scrupulous, strict, exact
   Antonyms: careless

2. finicky; fussy.

   meticulous adherence to technicalities.

   Antonyms: careless

meticulous

/ mɪˈtɪkjʊləs /

adjective

1. very precise about details, even trivial ones; painstaking

Other Word Forms

• meticulously adverb
• meticulosity noun
• meticulousness noun
• unmeticulous adjective
• unmeticulousness noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of meticulous¹

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” ( perilous )

Word History and Origins

Origin of meticulous¹

C16 (meaning: timid): from Latin meticulōsus fearful, from metus fear

Synonym Study

See painstaking.

Example Sentences

There is a guy in Missouri named Roger Gibson, whose business Roger Gibson Auto Restoration does the kind of meticulous work I was hoping to do.

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They don’t want to pay more than $1,000 in annual fees only to receive two sets of complex perks that require meticulous tracking.

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We've based him in an office in Dragon Park, so he's got his own space to watch games - and he watches a lot of games - and analyse the opposition in a very meticulous way.

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A West Yorkshire Police spokesperson said that since the early 2010s, the force had "significantly invested in and improved" its safeguarding capability and taken a "proactive and meticulous approach to exploring previous incidents".

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Potter, a meticulous coach who thrived at Brighton on time and structure, was left with a squad so big the changing room was too small to fit them all in.

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Related Words

• accurate 
• cautious 
• conscientious 
• exact 
• fastidious 
• fussy 
• painstaking 
• precise 
• scrupulous 
• strict 
• thorough