pains·tak·ing
ˈpān-ˌstā-kiŋ 
: taking pains : expending, showing, or involving diligent care and effort
painstaking research
painstaking tasks
painstaking accuracy
: the action of taking pains : diligent care and effort
… greater painstaking to achieve incidental verisimilitude and accuracy of detail …—
Times Literary Supplement
Times Literary SupplementExamples of painstaking in a Sentence
Adjective
The book describes the election process in painstaking detail.
she was always painstaking about her work
Recent Examples on the Web
Stewart Clarke, Deadline, 27 May 2026
The brand’s in-house gem setting team used snow, grain, and bezel-setting techniques to play with opacity and reflection on the wrist; in total, the pros devoted nearly 700 hours throughout the painstaking process of prepping and placing all those stones.
—Nicole Hoey, Robb Report, 27 May 2026
High accuracy The team moved away from the painstaking process of manufacturing chips one by one, adopting a method more akin to movable-type printing.
—Mrigakshi Dixit, Interesting Engineering, 25 May 2026
Garcia plays Joe Diamond, a private eye whose entire existence — down to his speech patterns, omnipresent fedora, 1940s convertible, and visible disdain for Waymo and TikTok — is a painstaking homage to the era of Bogart and Bacall.
—Rachel Handler, Vulture, 20 May 2026
See All Example Sentences for painstaking
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Adjective
To get the up-close action on the pitch required a painstaking mix of recreating passages of play with actors, complemented by a lot of tech wizardry.
—Stewart Clarke, Deadline, 27 May 2026
The brand’s in-house gem setting team used snow, grain, and bezel-setting techniques to play with opacity and reflection on the wrist; in total, the pros devoted nearly 700 hours throughout the painstaking process of prepping and placing all those stones.
—Nicole Hoey, Robb Report, 27 May 2026
High accuracy The team moved away from the painstaking process of manufacturing chips one by one, adopting a method more akin to movable-type printing.
—Mrigakshi Dixit, Interesting Engineering, 25 May 2026
Garcia plays Joe Diamond, a private eye whose entire existence — down to his speech patterns, omnipresent fedora, 1940s convertible, and visible disdain for Waymo and TikTok — is a painstaking homage to the era of Bogart and Bacall.
—Rachel Handler, Vulture, 20 May 2026
See All Example Sentences for painstaking
Cite this Entry
“Painstaking.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/painstaking. Accessed 1 Jun. 2026.
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