Meticulous

Meticulous

Adjective · /mɪˈtɪk.jʊ.ləs/

Definition

Showing great attention to detail or being very careful and precise about small things; extremely thorough; taking care to get every detail right.

Origin

From Latin meticulosus (fearful, timid), from metus (fear, dread) + -culosus (a diminutive suffix indicating an excess of a quality). The original Latin meaning was fearful or apprehensive — full of small fears. In English, the word was borrowed with this original sense of timid or fearful in the 16th century. The meaning shifted toward extremely careful and precise during the 19th century — the idea being that someone excessively fearful about making mistakes would be very careful about every detail. The positive modern sense replacing the negative original.