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

Derived Forms

• meˈticulously, adverb
• meˈticulousness, noun

Other Words From

• me·tic·u·lous·ly adverb
• me·tic·u·los·i·ty [m, uh, -tik-y, uh, -, los, -i-tee], me·tic·u·lous·ness noun
• un·me·tic·u·lous adjective
• un·me·tic·u·lous·ness 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

LED arrays with many points of light behind the screen now offer manufacturers more meticulous control over how each segment of the screen is lit.

From Popular-Science

Consequently, hiring the right person can be a slow, meticulous process.

From Digiday

Producing film requires meticulous math and specific chemistry applied on a massive scale.

From Popular-Science

Learn about the meticulous & rigorous launch program that brought us to this first step.

From Popular-Science

Grills are hot, and you have to stand pretty close to those grates to tend to the meticulous work, say, of flipping individual asparagus spears, many of which are no doubt destined to fall to their asparagus death in the process.

From The Daily Beast

Rick suggests a Woodbury-esque sneak attack on the hospital and lays out a meticulous strategy relying heavily on timing and luck.

From The Daily Beast

In a line of business built on meticulous order, the inner workings of Spinal Solutions were a study in disorder.

From The Daily Beast

Without overshadowing his talented counterparts, Cedar commands the stage with a meticulous mix of stoicism and candor.

From The Daily Beast

Both Trudeau and Alter, levelheaded as they are, are extremely meticulous about their production.

From The Daily Beast

It took a special, meticulous kind of person to accomplish the undertaking, someone with brains, patience, and nerves of steel.

From The Daily Beast

He removed his glasses and wiped them slowly and carefully, polishing each lens with meticulous care.

From Project Gutenberg

Where evidence warrants it corpses are subjected to microscopic and meticulous search to locate a hypodermic puncture.

From Project Gutenberg

My method of travel has always been to arrange everything beforehand with meticulous foresight.

From Project Gutenberg

Failing this, he demands, if only as signs of modesty and respect on the part of the survivors, meticulous imitation.

From Project Gutenberg

I think without the meticulous minute by minute, just say what it is.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

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