meticulous
[muh-tik-yuh-luh s]
- taking or showing extreme care about minute details; precise; thorough: a meticulous craftsman; meticulous personal appearance.
- finicky; fussy: meticulous adherence to technicalities.
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Origin of meticulous
1525–35; < Latin metīculōsus full of fear, fearful, equivalent to metī- for metū- (stem of metus fear) + -culōsus, extracted from perīculōsus perilous
Synonyms
See more synonyms for meticulous on Thesaurus.com1. exact, strict, scrupulous.
Synonym study
1. See painstaking.
Antonyms
1, 2. careless.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for meticulously
Contemporary Examples
She showed me a set of drawers, revealing a meticulously kept filing system of all her jokes.
The hospital turned to Brantly, who is meticulously cautious and profoundly compassionate.
Many of the companies in the top 100 have been investing in and meticulously tending to their brands for decades.
Scenes of various moments—eating, showering, being interrogated—are meticulously replicated almost in life size.
She meticulously de-glams, forcing her flowing brown hair into a tight bun.
‘Camp X-Ray,’ A Kristen Stewart-Starring Guantanamo Bay Film, Premieres at SundanceMarlow Stern
January 18, 2014
Historical Examples
Furthermore, her face and body were meticulously symmetrical.
The PerfectionistsArnold Castle
What little hair he did have left was meticulously shaved off every morning.
Unwise ChildGordon Randall Garrett
But once he realized that, he meticulously joked about them.
At the PostHorace Leonard Gold
It may be putting it strong; but it is also meticulously and simply—true.
Through Our Unknown SouthwestAgnes C. Laut
Very often they are of all men the most meticulously mannered.
Preaching and PaganismAlbert Parker Fitch
meticulous
- very precise about details, even trivial ones; painstaking
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Word Origin
C16 (meaning: timid): from Latin meticulōsus fearful, from metus fear
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
Word Origin and History for meticulously
adv.
1680s, from meticulous + -ly (2).
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meticulous
adj.
1530s, "fearful, timid," from Latin meticulosus "fearful, timid," literally "full of fear," from metus "fear, dread, apprehension, anxiety," of unknown origin. Sense of "fussy about details" is first recorded in English 1827, from French méticuleux "timorously fussy." Related: Meticulosity.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper