painstaking

1 of 2

adjective

pains·​tak·​ing ˈpān-ˌstā-kiŋ How to pronounce painstaking (audio)
: taking pains : expending, showing, or involving diligent care and effort
painstaking research
painstaking tasks
painstaking accuracy
painstakingly adverb

painstaking

2 of 2

noun

: the action of taking pains : diligent care and effort
… greater painstaking to achieve incidental verisimilitude and accuracy of detail …Times Literary Supplement

Examples 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
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Adjective
The painstaking process will include the collection of evidence from the scene, reviews of radio traffic and data on aircraft flight paths, communications with air traffic controllers and interviews with those controllers. Melissa Chan, NBC News, 30 Jan. 2025 Scientists from the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History, in collaboration with an international team of researchers, soon began the painstaking process of analyzing these grains under specialized microscopes. Ella Jeffries, Smithsonian Magazine, 29 Jan. 2025 No, those are painstaking ideas that take years and years to develop. Keyla Marquez, Los Angeles Times, 23 Jan. 2025 In the process, Hardenberg gives us a richly detailed yet very accessible history of how over five centuries, the concept of measuring mean sea level was a painstaking process that advanced in fits and starts. Bruce Dorminey, Forbes, 23 Jan. 2025 See all Example Sentences for painstaking 

Word History

First Known Use

Adjective

circa 1685, in the meaning defined above

Noun

1538, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of painstaking was in 1538

Dictionary Entries Near painstaking

Cite this Entry

“Painstaking.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/painstaking. Accessed 11 Feb. 2025.

Kids Definition

painstaking

adjective
pains·​tak·​ing
ˈpān-ˌstā-kiŋ
: taking or showing great care and effort
a painstaking search
painstakingly
-kiŋ-lē
adverb

More from Merriam-Webster on painstaking

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
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