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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:

We tend to assume the next clever kitchen system will come from a new cookbook, a viral freezer hack or somebody else’s meticulously labeled meal-prep containers.

From Salon Aug. 25, 2026

While Baker had meticulously preserved the vintage collectibles in his family’s historic home, he often struggled to afford structural repairs.

From Los Angeles Times Aug. 6, 2026

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

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

Wyche had been working on that: she’d written a meticulously detailed three-page, single-spaced letter to William Brody, then president of Johns Hopkins.

From "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" by Rebecca Skloot

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