painstaking

painstaking
—painstakingly, adv. —painstakingness, n.
/paynz"tay'king, payn"stay'-/, adj.
1. taking or characterized by taking pains or trouble; expending or showing diligent care and effort; careful: a painstaking craftsman; painstaking research.
n.
2. careful and diligent effort.
[1550-60; PAIN + -S3 + TAKING]
Syn. 1. thorough, scrupulous. PAINSTAKING, CAREFUL, METICULOUS, CONSCIENTIOUS all describe persons or behavior demonstrating attention to detail and effective task performance. PAINSTAKING stresses diligent and assiduous attention to detail in achieving a desired objective: a painstaking technician; the painstaking editing of a manuscript. CAREFUL, the most general in sense of these words, implies serious intent to perform well and accurately whatever task one has in hand: a careful housepainter; a careful study of the social structure of gangs.
METICULOUS suggests extreme attention to details, especially the most minute, coupled with an almost obsessive desire to avoid error: a meticulous silversmith, every detail finished to perfection; fussily meticulous about matching shoes and clothing. CONSCIENTIOUS stresses scrupulous effort to obey one's sense of moral obligation to perform tasks well: a conscientious public defender; a conscientious description of the robbery.

* * *


Universalium. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужно сделать НИР?
Synonyms:
, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,


Look at other dictionaries:

  • Painstaking — Pains tak ing (p[=a]nz t[=a]k [i^]ng), a. Careful in doing; diligent; faithful; attentive. Painstaking men. Harris. [1913 Webster] …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • Painstaking — Pains tak ing, n. The act of taking pains; carefulness and fidelity in performance. Beau. & Fl. [1913 Webster] …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • painstaking — I adjective assiduous, attentive, careful, conscientious, diligent, earnest, elaborate, energetic, exacting, hardworking, heedful, industrious, labored, laborious, meticulous, never tiring, operose, operosus, particular, persevering, plodding,… …   Law dictionary

  • painstaking — (adj.) 1550s, paynes taking; see PAIN (Cf. pain) (n.) + TAKE (Cf. take) (v.). Related: Painstakingly …   Etymology dictionary

  • painstaking — [adj] meticulous, thorough assiduous, by the book*, by the numbers*, careful, conscientious, conscionable, diligent, earnest, exact, exacting, finicky, fussbudget*, fussy, hard working, heedful, industrious, particular, persevering, persnickety* …   New thesaurus

  • painstaking — ► ADJECTIVE ▪ very careful and thorough. DERIVATIVES painstakingly adverb …   English terms dictionary

  • painstaking — [pānz′tāk΄iŋ] n. the act of taking pains; great care or diligence adj. 1. taking pains; very careful; diligent 2. characterized by great care painstakingly adv …   English World dictionary

  • painstaking — pains•tak•ing [[t]ˈpeɪnzˌteɪ kɪŋ, ˈpeɪnˌsteɪ [/t]] adj. 1) taking or characterized by taking pains; expending or showing diligent care and effort; careful: a painstaking craftsman; painstaking research[/ex] 2) careful and diligent effort •… …   From formal English to slang

  • painstaking — pains|tak|ing [ˈpeınzˌteıkıŋ] adj [usually before noun] very careful and thorough ▪ The work had been done with painstaking attention to detail. ▪ Chris described in painstaking detail what had happened. >painstakingly adv ▪ The old painting… …   Dictionary of contemporary English

  • painstaking — [[t]pe͟ɪnsteɪkɪŋ[/t]] ADJ GRADED; usu ADJ n A painstaking search, examination, or investigation is done extremely carefully and thoroughly. Forensic experts carried out a painstaking search of the debris. Syn: careful, thorough Derived words:… …   English dictionary

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
… Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”