meticulous
- Showing great attention to detail and taking extreme care to be accurate or correct.
In a sentence
- The watchmaker was meticulous, spending hours aligning each tiny gear.
- She kept meticulous records of every expense throughout the project.
Usage note. 'Meticulous' now carries a positive connotation in standard use, though it originally implied excessive fearfulness; it collocates well with 'attention', 'records', and 'planning'.
Where it comes from
English meticulous · entered English 16th c.
From Latin 'meticulosus', originally meaning 'fearful' or 'timid', derived from 'metus' (fear). The sense shifted over time to mean 'over-careful' and eventually 'painstakingly precise'; the word entered English in the 16th century, with its modern positive connotation solidifying by the 19th century.