meticulous
adjective
Did you know?
Meticulous Has Fearful Roots
We're afraid we have some strange etymological news: meticulous comes from the Latin word for "fearful"—metīculōsus—and ultimately from the Latin noun metus, meaning "fear." Although meticulous currently has no "fearful" meanings, it was originally used as a synonym of "frightened" and "timid." This sense had fallen into disuse by 1700, and in the 1800s meticulous acquired a new meaning of "overly and timidly careful" (possibly due to the influence of the French word méticuleux). This meaning in turn led to the current one of "painstakingly careful," with no connotations of fear at all. The newest use was controversial for a time, but it is now by far the most common meaning; even the most meticulous (or persnickety, depending on your view) among us consider it perfectly acceptable.
Synonyms
Examples of meticulous in a Sentence
Minette Walters, Fox Evil, 2002
She was very much the craftswoman, all her work meticulous, slow, perfect.
—Simon Winchester, The Professor and the Madman, 1998
In dense, meticulous arguments … Brooten mounts an assault on that view.
—Cullen Murphy, Atlantic, August 1993
He described the scene in meticulous detail.
He is meticulous about keeping accurate records.
Cortne Bonilla, Vogue, 19 Nov. 2024
My meticulous wordsmithing wasn’t an attempt to attract the perfect partner.
—Allie Volpe, Vox, 14 Nov. 2024
Zendaya’s longtime stylist, Law Roach, shared insights into the outfit choice on Instagram, highlighting the meticulous craftsmanship that went into the vintage piece.
—Jenzia Burgos, StyleCaster, 20 Oct. 2024
After all, marketing and accounting are often seen as having opposite functions—the former dealing with creating work and the latter with meticulous number crunching.
—Vlad Rusz, Forbes, 5 Nov. 2024
See all Example Sentences for meticulous 
Dictionary Entries Near meticulous
Cite this Entry
“Meticulous.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/meticulous. Accessed 1 Dec. 2024.
Copy CitationKids Definition
meticulous
adjective
Share