meticulous
/mɪˈtɪkjɪlɪs/adjective
meticulous is spelled M-E-T-I-C-U-L-O-U-S: 10 letters and 4 syllables. It appears 1.7 times per million words in written English, the 21,209th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, meticulous means “Characterized by very precise, conscientious attention to details” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in meticulous?
| Letters | 10: M-E-T-I-C-U-L-O-U-S |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 4 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 1.7 times per million words; the 21,209th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is meticulous?
Meticulous appears 1.7 times per million words in written English, the 21,209th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce meticulous?
- US /mɪˈtɪkjɪlɪs/
- US /mɪˈtɪkjuləs/
Meticulous has 4 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-uk-meticulous.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of meticulous
- more meticulous comparative
- most meticulous superlative
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does meticulous mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
Characterized by very precise, conscientious attention to details.
meticulous search
- 2
archaicTimid, fearful, overly cautious.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Meticulous in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | méticuleux, soigneux |
| German | akribisch, peinlich genau, pedantisch, minutiös, minuziös , furchtsam |
| Portuguese | meticuloso |
| Spanish | meticuloso, minucioso |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does meticulous come from?
Learned borrowing from Latin meticulōsus (“full of fear, timid, fearful, terrible, frightful”), from metus (“fear”) and -culōsus, extracted from perīculōsus (“perilous”). Sense of “characterized by very precise, conscientious attention to details” is a semantic loan from French méticuleux.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).