Dictionary

painstaking en · ADJ

Pronunciation

• /ˈpeɪnzˌteɪkɪŋ/ (UK)
• /ˈpeɪnˌsteɪkɪŋ/ (US)
• /ˈpeɪnzˌteɪkɪŋ/ (US)
• (Southern-England) audio

Etymology

From pains + taking; see take pains. The /ˈpeɪnˌsteɪkɪŋ/ pronunciation which dominates in the United States suggests a reanalysis of the word as pain + staking.

Meanings

1. Carefully attentive to details; studious; diligent in performing a process or procedure.
   • It is hoped to feature the historic vehicles to be found on the line in a future article, so that full justice may be done to the painstaking work of renovation on many of them, such as the North Eastern Railway Coach Group's NER autocoach No 3453. 1979 August, Michael Harris, “A line for all reasons: the North Yorkshire Moors Railway”, in Railway World, page 415:
   • All these painstaking men, considered together, may be said to have completed another species of criticism. 1781, James Harris, Philological Inquiries:
   • Earl de Sadist’s pioneering efforts didn’t stop there. When the thrill of wedgies faded, he put his great brain to work and after months of painstaking experimentation, he emerged from his workshop with a revolutionary kinky invention: the nipple clamp. 2005, Annabelle du Fouet, “Toys for kinky girls and boys—It’s not just whips and chains anymore.” (chapter 3), in Weather Balloons Make Rotten Sex Toys, Ellora's Cave, →ISBN, page 53:

Forms

Deriveds

painstakingly · unpainstaking · painstakingness

Relateds

take pains · at pains · go to pains

Translations (37)

sv flitig (careful attentive; diligent) · pt minucioso (careful attentive; diligent) · cmn 嚴謹 /严谨 (careful attentive; diligent) · fi vaivalloinen (careful attentive; diligent) · sv omsorgsfull (careful attentive; diligent) · ru аккура́тный (careful attentive; diligent) · pt escrupuloso (careful attentive; diligent) · ru кропотли́вый (careful attentive; diligent) · oc menimós (careful attentive; diligent) · mi mārehe (careful attentive; diligent) · de akribisch (careful attentive; diligent) · pt meticuloso (careful attentive; diligent) · fr minutieux (careful attentive; diligent) · it scrupoloso (careful attentive; diligent) · es esmerado (careful attentive; diligent) · oc diligent (careful attentive; diligent) · ja 綿密な (careful attentive; diligent) · oc atentiu (careful attentive; diligent) · gd pongail (careful attentive; diligent) · it minuzioso (careful attentive; diligent) · oc espepidaire (careful attentive; diligent) · ru о́чень осторо́жный (careful attentive; diligent) · ca acurat (careful attentive; diligent) · fr méticuleux (careful attentive; diligent) · fr minutieuse (careful attentive; diligent) · fr méticuleuse (careful attentive; diligent) · oc minimós (careful attentive; diligent) · cmn 細緻 /细致 (careful attentive; diligent) · oc primejaire (careful attentive; diligent) · oc meticulós (careful attentive; diligent) · sv noggrann (careful attentive; diligent) · bg усърден (careful attentive; diligent) · tr özenli (careful attentive; diligent) · cmn 慎密 (careful attentive; diligent) · bg старателен (careful attentive; diligent) · tr itinalı (careful attentive; diligent) · es dispendioso (careful attentive; diligent)

painstaking en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /ˈpeɪnzˌteɪkɪŋ/ (UK)
• /ˈpeɪnˌsteɪkɪŋ/ (US)
• /ˈpeɪnzˌteɪkɪŋ/ (US)
• (Southern-England) audio

Etymology

From pains + taking; see take pains. The /ˈpeɪnˌsteɪkɪŋ/ pronunciation which dominates in the United States suggests a reanalysis of the word as pain + staking.

Meanings

1. (countable, uncountable) The application of careful and attentive effort.
   • It is not by a flight of imagination that you gain the ascents of spiritual experience. It is by the toils and the watchings and the painstakings of a solid obedience. c. 1836, Thomas Chalmers, Lectures on the Romans:
   • Behold what an abundant recompense attends the small processes of the earth, with the help of a little warm air; and what wealthy returns the industry of the husbandman and the florist is preparing from a few seeds and painstakings. 1852, Nathaniel Langdon Frothingham, “Sermon VI”, in Sermons in the Order of a Twelvemonth:
   • I esteeme Bocace his Decameron, Rabelais, and the kisses of John the second (if they may be placed under this title) worth the paines-taking to reade them. 1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 10, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book II, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC:

Forms