1.adj. 1. Showing or acting with extreme care and concern for details.
2. Archaic Excessively careful and precise.
[From Latin metīculōsus , timid, from metus , fear.]
me·tic′u·los′i·ty (-lŏs′ĭ-tē) , me·tic′u·lous·ness n.
me·tic′u·lous·ly adv.
Synonyms: meticulous , painstaking , careful , scrupulous , fastidious , punctilious These adjectives mean showing or marked by attentiveness to all aspects or details. Meticulous and painstaking stress extreme care: "He had throughout been almost worryingly meticulous in his business formalities" (Arnold Bennett).Repairing the fine lace entailed slow and painstaking work. Careful suggests circumspection and solicitude: A careful examination of the gem showed it to be fake. Scrupulous suggests care prompted by conscience: "He was scrupulous about paying his debts and equally scrupulous about collecting what was owed to him" (Pauli Murray). Fastidious implies concern, often excessive, for the requirements of taste: "Your true lover of literature is never fastidious" (Robert Southey). Punctilious specifically applies to minute details of conduct: "The more unpopular an opinion is, the more necessary is it that the holder should be somewhat punctilious in his observance of conventionalities generally" (Samuel Butler).
