Meanings
comparative more meticulous · superlative most meticulous
- Characterized by very precise, conscientious attention to details.
meticulous search
5 more examples
meticulous investigation
meticulous knowledge
meticulous report
The meticulous care with which the operation in Sicily was planned has paid dividends. Our casualties in men, in ships and materiel have been low—in fact, far below our estimate.
1943, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Roosevelt's Fireside Chat, 28 July 1943Currently, bodyshells for units 810024/025 are on the weld line. […] In the paint shop are bodyshells for 810022/023, which are undergoing a meticulous process to ensure a high-quality finish.
2024 December 27, Pip Dunn, “Network News: Hitachi pushes on with '810' assembly and testing”, in RAIL, number 1025, page 20Synonyms: painstaking, fastidious · Antonyms: sloppy, careless, slapdash
- archaicTimid, fearful, overly cautious.
Synonyms: alert, attentive, careful, cautelous, cautious, canny, chary, circumspect · Antonyms: aggressive, carefree, careless, cursory, derelict, heedless, irregardless, irrespective
Synonyms & antonyms
adjectiveCharacterized by very precise, conscientious attention to details.
adjectiveTimid, fearful, overly cautious.
More synonyms by meaning
adjectivemarked by precise accordance with details
adjectivemarked by extreme care in treatment of details
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Frenchméticuleux
- Latinmeticulōsus“full of fear, timid, fearful, terrible, frightful”
- Englishmeticulous
Learned borrowing from Latin meticulōsus (“full of fear, timid, fearful, terrible, frightful”), from metus (“fear”) and -culōsus, extracted from perīculōsus (“perilous”). Sense of “characterized by very precise, conscientious attention to details” is a semantic loan from French méticuleux.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Bulgarian щателен, педантичен
- щателен (štatelen)characterized by very precise, conscientious attention to details
- педантичен (pedantičen)characterized by very precise, conscientious attention to details
Catalan meticulós, minuciós
- meticulóscharacterized by very precise, conscientious attention to details
- minucióscharacterized by very precise, conscientious attention to details
Chinese Mandarin 過細 /过细, 細緻 /细致
- 過細 /过细 (guòxì)characterized by very precise, conscientious attention to details
- 細緻 /细致 (xìzhì)characterized by very precise, conscientious attention to details
Czech pečlivý, puntíčkářský
- pečlivýcharacterized by very precise, conscientious attention to details
- puntíčkářskýcharacterized by very precise, conscientious attention to details
- akurátnícharacterized by very precise, conscientious attention to details
Danish minutiøs
- minutiøscharacterized by very precise, conscientious attention to details
Dutch angstvallig, scrupuleus
- angstvalligcharacterized by very precise, conscientious attention to details
- scrupuleuscharacterized by very precise, conscientious attention to details
- meticuleuscharacterized by very precise, conscientious attention to details
- acribischcharacterized by very precise, conscientious attention to details
Finnish huolellinen
- huolellinencharacterized by very precise, conscientious attention to details
French méticuleux, soigneux
- méticuleuxcharacterized by very precise, conscientious attention to details
- soigneuxcharacterized by very precise, conscientious attention to details
German akribisch, peinlich genau
- akribischcharacterized by very precise, conscientious attention to details
- peinlich genaucharacterized by very precise, conscientious attention to details
- pedantischcharacterized by very precise, conscientious attention to details
- minutiöscharacterized by very precise, conscientious attention to details
- minuziöscharacterized by very precise, conscientious attention to details
- furchtsamtimid, fearful, overly cautious
- übervorsichtigtimid, fearful, overly cautious
Greek επιμελής
- επιμελής (epimelís)characterized by very precise, conscientious attention to details
Hungarian aprólékos
- aprólékoscharacterized by very precise, conscientious attention to details
Indonesian teliti
- teliticharacterized by very precise, conscientious attention to details
Italian meticoloso
- meticolosocharacterized by very precise, conscientious attention to details
Japanese 細部まで行き届いた, 几帳面な
- 細部まで行き届いた (saibu made ikitodoita)characterized by very precise, conscientious attention to details
- 几帳面な (kichōmen na)characterized by very precise, conscientious attention to details
Māori mārehe, uhupoho
- mārehecharacterized by very precise, conscientious attention to details
- uhupohocharacterized by very precise, conscientious attention to details
- whakautiuticharacterized by very precise, conscientious attention to details
Norwegian omhyggelig
- omhyggeligcharacterized by very precise, conscientious attention to details
Polish drobiazgowy, skrupulatny
- drobiazgowycharacterized by very precise, conscientious attention to details
- skrupulatnycharacterized by very precise, conscientious attention to details
Portuguese meticuloso
- meticulosocharacterized by very precise, conscientious attention to details
Romanian meticulos
- meticuloscharacterized by very precise, conscientious attention to details
Russian скрупулёзный, дото́шный
- скрупулёзный (skrupuljóznyj)characterized by very precise, conscientious attention to details
- дото́шный (dotóšnyj)characterized by very precise, conscientious attention to details
- педанти́чный (pedantíčnyj)characterized by very precise, conscientious attention to details
- тщательный (tščatelʹnyj)characterized by very precise, conscientious attention to details
- въедливый (vʺjedlivyj)characterized by very precise, conscientious attention to details
- доскональный (doskonalʹnyj)characterized by very precise, conscientious attention to details
Scottish Gaelic pongail
- pongailcharacterized by very precise, conscientious attention to details
Spanish meticuloso, minucioso
- meticulosocharacterized by very precise, conscientious attention to details
- minuciosocharacterized by very precise, conscientious attention to details
Swedish minutiös, omsorgsfull
- minutiöscharacterized by very precise, conscientious attention to details
- omsorgsfullcharacterized by very precise, conscientious attention to details
Tagalog malambis
- malambischaracterized by very precise, conscientious attention to details
Turkish titiz
- titizcharacterized by very precise, conscientious attention to details
Ukrainian сумлі́нний, рете́льний
- сумлі́нний (sumlínnyj)characterized by very precise, conscientious attention to details
- рете́льний (retélʹnyj)characterized by very precise, conscientious attention to details
- педанти́чний (pedantýčnyj)characterized by very precise, conscientious attention to details
Vietnamese tỉ mỉ
- tỉ mỉcharacterized by very precise, conscientious attention to details
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with meticulous
All rhymes →Cite this entry
meticulous. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/meticulous
“meticulous.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/meticulous. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “meticulous,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/meticulous.
Source: meticulous on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.