Meanings
adjectivediligent (comparative more diligent, superlative most diligent)
comparative more diligent · superlative most diligent · alternative deligent
- Performing with industrious concentration; hard-working and focused.
Scientists are very diligent in their work.
Synonyms & antonyms
adjectivequietly and steadily persevering especially in detail or exactness
Similar
adjectivecharacterized by care and perseverance in carrying out tasks
Opposite
Also see
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Latindīligēns“careful, attentive, diligent”
- Old Frenchdiligent
- Middle Englishdiligent
- Englishdiligent
From Middle English diligent, from Old French diligent, from Latin dīligēns (“careful, attentive, diligent”), present participle of dīligō (“to love, esteem much”, literally “to choose, select”), from dī-, dis- (“apart”) + legō (“to choose”); see elect and select.
More words from Middle English, Old French, Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Ancient Greek σπουδαῖος
- σπουδαῖος (spoudaîos)hard-working and focused
Arabic مُجْتَهِد
- مُجْتَهِد (mujtahid)hard-working and focused
Bulgarian приле́жен, усъ́рден
- приле́жен (priléžen)hard-working and focused
- усъ́рден (usắrden)hard-working and focused
- стара́телен (starátelen)hard-working and focused
- трудолюби́в (trudoljubív)hard-working and focused
Catalan diligent
- diligenthard-working and focused
Chinese Mandarin 刻苦, 耐勞 /耐劳
- 刻苦 (kèkǔ)hard-working and focused
- 耐勞 /耐劳 (nàiláo)hard-working and focused
- 努力 (nǔlì)hard-working and focused
- 勤奮 /勤奋 (qínfèn)hard-working and focused
- 勤勞 /勤劳 (qínláo)hard-working and focused
- 勤勉 (qínmiǎn)hard-working and focused
Czech pilný
- pilnýhard-working and focused
Danish flittig, ihærdig
- flittighard-working and focused
- ihærdighard-working and focused
- arbejdsomhard-working and focused
Dutch ijverig, vlijtig
- ijverighard-working and focused
- vlijtighard-working and focused
- toegewijdhard-working and focused
Esperanto diligenta
- diligentahard-working and focused
Estonian usin
- usinhard-working and focused
Finnish tunnollinen, huolellinen
- tunnollinenhard-working and focused
- huolellinenhard-working and focused
- uutterahard-working and focused
- ahkerahard-working and focused
- reipashard-working and focused
French industrieux, diligent
- industrieuxhard-working and focused
- diligenthard-working and focused
German fleißig, arbeitsam
- fleißighard-working and focused
- arbeitsamhard-working and focused
- eifrighard-working and focused
- sorgfältighard-working and focused
- dienstbeflissenhard-working and focused
- tüchtighard-working and focused
- betriebsamhard-working and focused
Greek επιμελής, εργατικός
- επιμελής (epimelís)hard-working and focused
- εργατικός (ergatikós)hard-working and focused
- φιλόπονος (filóponos)hard-working and focused
Hebrew חָרוּץ
- חָרוּץ (kharúts)hard-working and focused
Hindi कर्मठ, कर्मनिष्ठ
- कर्मठ (karmaṭh)hard-working and focused
- कर्मनिष्ठ (karmaniṣṭh)hard-working and focused
- परिश्रमी (pariśramī)hard-working and focused
- उद्योगी (udyogī)hard-working and focused
- मेहनती (mehnatī)hard-working and focused
Hungarian szorgalmas, igyekvő
- szorgalmashard-working and focused
- igyekvőhard-working and focused
Icelandic iðinn
- iðinnhard-working and focused
Indonesian rajin
- rajinhard-working and focused
Irish dúthrachtach
- dúthrachtachhard-working and focused
Italian diligente
- diligentehard-working and focused
Japanese 勤勉な
- 勤勉な (kinben na)hard-working and focused
Korean 근면하다, 부지런하다
- 근면하다 (geunmyeonhada)hard-working and focused
- 부지런하다 (bujireonhada)hard-working and focused
Latin sēdulus, industrius
- sēdulushard-working and focused
- industriushard-working and focused
- diligenshard-working and focused
Latvian centīgs, cītīgs
- centīgshard-working and focused
- cītīgshard-working and focused
- uzcītīgshard-working and focused
Lithuanian stropus
- stropushard-working and focused
Māori urupū, pukunanaiore
- urupūhard-working and focused
- pukunanaiorehard-working and focused
Norwegian Bokmål flittig, iherdig
- flittighard-working and focused
- iherdighard-working and focused
- arbeidsomhard-working and focused
Polish pilny
- pilnyhard-working and focused
Portuguese diligente
- diligentehard-working and focused
Romanian harnic, diligent
- harnichard-working and focused
- diligenthard-working and focused
Russian приле́жный, усе́рдный
- приле́жный (priléžnyj)hard-working and focused
- усе́рдный (usérdnyj)hard-working and focused
- трудолюби́вый (trudoljubívyj)hard-working and focused
- работя́щий (rabotjáščij)hard-working and focused
- стара́тельный (starátelʹnyj)hard-working and focused
Scottish Gaelic dèanadach
- dèanadachhard-working and focused
Slovak pilný, usilovný
- pilnýhard-working and focused
- usilovnýhard-working and focused
- pracovitýhard-working and focused
Spanish diligente
- diligentehard-working and focused
Swedish flitig, ihärdig
- flitighard-working and focused
- ihärdighard-working and focused
- arbetsamhard-working and focused
Thai ขยัน
- ขยัน (kà-yǎn)hard-working and focused
Turkish çalışkan
- çalışkanhard-working and focused
Ukrainian стара́нний, пи́льний
- стара́нний (staránnyj)hard-working and focused
- пи́льний (pýlʹnyj)hard-working and focused
- рете́льний (retélʹnyj)hard-working and focused
Urdu مِحْنَتی
- مِحْنَتی (mihnatī)hard-working and focused
Vietnamese siêng năng, chăm chỉ
- siêng nănghard-working and focused
- chăm chỉhard-working and focused
Welsh diwyd
- diwydhard-working and focused
Cite this entry
APA
diligent. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/diligent
MLA
“diligent.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/diligent. Accessed November 2, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “diligent,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/diligent.
Source: diligent on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.