Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Extremely careful and precise.
- adj. Extremely or excessively concerned with details.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Timid; over-careful.
Wiktionary
- adj. archaic Timid, fearful, overly cautious.
- adj. Characterized by very precise, conscientious attention to details.
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. archaic Timid; fearful.
- adj. Taking great care to get every detail correct; working thoroughly and with precision.
WordNet 3.0
- adj. marked by precise accordance with details
- adj. marked by extreme care in treatment of details
Etymologies
- From Latin meticulōsus ("full of fear, timid, fearful, terrible, frightful"), from metus ("fear") and -culōsus, extracted from perīculōsus ("perilous"). (Wiktionary)
- From Latin metīculōsus, timid, from metus, fear. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“She was referring to her meticulous joke file, featured in her 2010 documentary, "Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work.”
“But with great patience, he always explained them to me in meticulous detail.”
Kien Nguyen talks about his grandfather, the inspiration for his first novel, The Tapestries
“They plan it in meticulous detail over the course of a very condensed week.”
Seeing Double: No Country For Old Men / The Getaway » Scene-Stealers
“The report describes in meticulous detail over three volumes the failures of both the medical and legal systems.”
“If I think something should be no-crimed then I write it up as such on the call log, in meticulous detail if necessary.”
ACPO blames front-line cops for doing their job SHOCK! « POLICE INSPECTOR BLOG
“Its greatest merit is to show in meticulous detail how the organized crime syndicate in the region, Camorra, has been able to forge relationships of mutual cooperation with a sizeable section of the local and national economies, and how legal and illegal production intersect and support each other.”
“An argument between married lawyers has continued longer than expected whilst each of them takes turns to cross-examine the other in meticulous detail.”
“There was absolutely not another word Ian McEwan had to say, the subject had been turned inside out, described in meticulous detail and analysed down to the very last ... well to the very last I don't know what really, but no imagination was required, all this reader's work had been done.”
“This was covered in meticulous detail by Heart, after interviewing a feminist attorney, in a post at Women's Space.”
“For an average of five to six hours a day, he adhered to a strict regimen that required him to write Chinese characters over and over again, in meticulous and methodical fashion.”
The Romance of China: Excursions to China in U.S. Culture: 1776-1876
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘meticulous’.
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1100
abound, technology, branch of knowled..., prognosticate, automaton, matron, an older married ..., realm, special field of ..., kingdom, annals, historical records and 981 more...
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@vcb.etym.prjct - SAT WORD DUMP - as ...
The words on this list SAT regulars that I haven't sorted and grouped yet. It's like my wordy holding pen. get it? holding the pen to write a word? HA! I love how lame my humor is.
iconoclast, glacial, agnostic, histrionic, treacly, contemptuous, captious, bombastic, bombast, perfidy, quiescence, sordid and 148 more...
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GRE Barrons Wordlist
A complete Barron's Wordlist for GRE preparation. Your online flashcard replacement.
abase, abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abject, abjure and 4087 more...
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3/4 year Vocab List
voracious, indiscriminate, eminent, steeped, replete, awe, buffoon, abound, technology, prognosticate, automaton, matron and 96 more...
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bbc uk china vocab.
conservationists, estimate, threats, infertility, eating away at, endangered, furry, panel, in trouble, gongs, triumphed, caps and 1007 more...
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3/4 year Vocab List
voracious, indiscriminate, eminent, steeped, replete, awe, buffoon, abound, technology, prognosticate, automaton, matron and 96 more...
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GRE Barron's 800
abate, abdicate, aberrant, abeyance, abject, abjure, abscission, abscond, abstemious, abstinence, abysmal, accretion and 787 more...
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GRE 2014
abase, abate, abdicate, aberrant, abeyance, abhor, abjure, abortive, abound, abrasive, abreast, abridge and 1577 more...
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Yazhinni Spelling bee
tongue, stallion, scruple, salinity, schedule, rouge, populist, Permian, perspire, pasteurize, multitude, mournful and 227 more...
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GRE
predilection, explicit, appeal, supplication, appealing, enchanting, ovation, pertinent, apropos, opportunely, applicable, germane and 381 more...
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pedantic words
Busie old foole, unruly Sunne,..Sawcy pedantique wretch, goe chide Late schooleboyes.
pedagogic, schoolmasterly, academic, bookish, donnish, dry as dust, dryasdust, pedantic, erudite, formal, inkhorn, learned and 65 more...
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Let's Talk About Family!
idiosyncrasy, acerbic, sardonic, mordant, aesthetics, prolific, discerning, eclectic, iconoclast, heterodox, disheveled, deplorable and 36 more...
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PART 2: 100 Word You Should Know To B...
Here are 40 advanced English words which should you be able to use them in a sentence will impress even educated native speakers! Perfect if you want to impress the examiner in examinations like: I...
jubilant, knell, lithe, lurid, maverick, maxim, meticulous, modicum, morose, myriad, nadir, nominal and 28 more...
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GRE 1100
drudgery, implore, hapless, nuance, wrest, incipient, inadvertent, tremulous, bristle, euphemism, disdain, pugnacious and 346 more...
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big book gre
abase, abbess, abbey, abbot, abdicate, abdomen, abdominal, abduction, abed, aberration, abet, abeyance and 6691 more...
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M
letters starting with m
mitigate, maudlin, magnanimity, magnanimity, malleable, maverick, maverick, mendacious, metamorphosis, meticulous, misanthrope, mollify and 2 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for meticulous.
thenike5 Worrrrrd: To sionnach AND sarra; well played articulation. May 21, 2009
sarra So boisterosity? fastidiosity? gregariosity? studiosity? nervosity? obnoxiosity? piteosity? stupendosity? tenuosity? (aptly) ridiculosity? Dec 2, 2008
sionnach Those dopey Times reviewers. EVeryone knows the word is meticulosity.
Think about it:
curious -- curiosity
generous -- generosity
pompous -- pomposity
viscous -- viscosity
heterozygous - heterozygosity
monstrous -- monstrosity
ingenious -- ingeniosity
fabulous -- fabulosity
fuliginous -- fuliginosity
religious -- religiosity
etc etc Dec 1, 2008
bilby "Don’t take a perfectly good word and give it a new backside so it functions as something else. The New York Times does this all the time. Instead of saying, 'as a director, she is meticulous,' the reviewer will write, 'as a director, she is known for her meticulousness.' Until she is known for her obtuseness."
- Pat Holt, 'The Ten Mistakes'. Dec 1, 2008
oroboros Originally meant fearful, timid. Evolution: the fearful and timid tend to be very careful in the details of their lives. Mar 29, 2008