meticulous

English

Etymology

From Latin meticulōsus (“full of fear, timid, fearful, terrible, frightful”), from metus (“fear”) and -culōsus, extracted from perīculōsus (“perilous”).

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA: /mɨˈtɪkjɨlɨs/, //mɨˈtɪkjuləs/

• Audio (UK)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪkjələs

Adjective

meticulous (comparative more meticulous, superlative most meticulous)

1. (archaic) Timid, fearful, overly cautious.
2. Characterized by very precise, conscientious attention to details.
   • 1943, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Roosevelt's Fireside Chat, 28 July 1943:

     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.

Synonyms

• careful, precise, painstaking, rigorous, scrupulous
• See also Wikisaurus:meticulous

Antonyms

• sloppy, careless, slapdash

Derived terms

• meticulosity, meticulousness

Translations

characterized by very precise, conscientious attention to details

• Catalan: meticulós (ca), minuciós (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 過細 (cmn), 过细 (cmn) (guòxì), 細緻 (cmn), 细致 (cmn) (xìzhì)

• Czech: pečlivý (cs)
• Dutch: angstvallig (nl), scrupuleus (nl), meticuleus (nl), acribisch (nl)
• Finnish: huolellinen (fi)
• French: méticuleux (fr), soigneux (fr)
• German: akribisch (de), peinlich genau (de), pedantisch (de) (pej.)
• Japanese: 細部まで行き届いた (ja) (さいぶまでいきとどいた, saibu made ikitodoita)

• Luxembourgish: akribesch (lb)
• Norwegian: omhyggelig (no)
• Polish: drobiazgowy (pl)
• Portuguese: meticuloso (pt) m, meticulosa (pt) f
• Romanian: meticulos (ro) m and n
• Russian: скрупулёзный (ru) (skrupuljóznyj), дотошный (ru) (dotóšnyj), педантичный (ru) (pedantíčnyj)
• Scottish Gaelic: pongail (gd)
• Spanish: meticuloso (es), minucioso (es)
• Swedish: minutiös (sv), omsorgsfull (sv)

External links

• meticulous in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• meticulous in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911