punctilious
/pʌŋkˈtɪli.əs/adjective
punctilious is spelled P-U-N-C-T-I-L-I-O-U-S: 11 letters and 4 syllables. It appears about once in every 17 million words in written English, the 125,655th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, punctilious means “Strictly attentive to detail; meticulous or fastidious, particularly to codes or conventions” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in punctilious?
| Letters | 11: P-U-N-C-T-I-L-I-O-U-S |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 4 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 17 million words; the 125,655th 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 punctilious?
Punctilious appears about once in every 17 million words in written English, the 125,655th 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 punctilious?
- /pʌŋkˈtɪli.əs/
Punctilious 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: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-punctilious.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of punctilious
- more punctilious comparative
- most punctilious superlative
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does punctilious mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
Strictly attentive to detail; meticulous or fastidious, particularly to codes or conventions.
With a punctilious slap of the gloves, the duel was now inevitable.
- 2
Precise or scrupulous; finicky or nitpicky.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Punctilious in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense strictly attentive to detail:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | pointilleux |
| German | pedantisch, minutiös, korrekt, förmlich, peinlich genau, überkorrekt |
| Spanish | puntilloso |
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 punctilious come from?
From punctilio (“fine point in exactness of conduct”) + -ous.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).