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meticulous

Someone who is meticulous pays extreme attention to detail. If that person is, say, your surgeon or your accountant, you'll definitely want them to be meticulous!

The Latin root of meticulous is metus, which means "fear." Someone who's meticulous is afraid of what will happen if they're not careful enough to get every detail right. "Detail-oriented" and "perfectionist" are other ways of describing someone who cares deeply about the small things and about getting things exactly right, every time. Concert pianists must be meticulous, because audiences are always listening for wrong notes.

Definitions of meticulous
  1. adjective
    marked by precise accordance with details
    meticulous research”
    synonyms: punctilious
    precise
    sharply exact or accurate or delimited
  2. adjective
    marked by extreme care in treatment of details
    “a meticulous craftsman”
    “almost worryingly meticulous in his business formalities”
    Synonyms:
    fastidious
    giving careful attention to detail; hard to please; excessively concerned with cleanliness
DISCLAIMER: These example sentences appear in various news sources and books to reflect the usage of the word ‘meticulous'. Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Vocabulary.com or its editors. Send us feedback
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