meticulous
/mɪˈtɪkjʊləs
/adjective
Showing great attention to detail; very careful and precise: the designs are hand-glazed with meticulous care he had always been so meticulous about his appearance...
- The film is visually spectacular, with epic battle scenes and meticulous attention to period detail.
- You are minutely analytical and can fulfill any task that requires meticulous attention to detail.
- It is his meticulous attention to detail which has brought him the fast cars and the fast lifestyle he has enjoyed.
Synonyms
careful, conscientious, diligent, ultra-careful, scrupulous, punctilious, painstaking, demanding, exacting, accurate, correct;
thorough, studious, rigorous, detailed, perfectionist, fastidious, methodical, particular, strict;
pedantic, fussy;
North American white-glove
archaic nice, laborious
Derivatives
meticulousness
/ noun ...- It took carefully meticulousness and they managed to maneuver themselves out of the Delta and into the walkway.
- If there is a sense of exhaustion, however, it is tempered by the meticulousness of the presentation and the thoroughness of her pursuit of the seven themes.
- Instead, notice the film's meticulousness in saying only ‘true’ or defensible things in support of a completely misleading impression.
Origin
Mid 16th century (in the sense 'fearful or timid'): from Latin meticulosus, from metus 'fear'. The word came to mean 'overcareful about detail', hence the current sense (early 19th century).
At first meticulous meant ‘fearful, timid’ for it came from Latin metus ‘fear’. It came to mean ‘over-careful about detail’, then lost its negative associations, giving the current sense ‘showing great attention to detail’ by the early 19th century.