Entry Word: conscientious

Function: adjective

Meaning: 1 guided by or in accordance with oneʼs sense of right and wrong <operated on the belief that most people are conscientious, the unattended farm stand has a price list and a money drawer for customers to leave payment for their purchases>

Synonyms ethical, honest, honorable, just, moral, principled, scrupulous

Related Words good, righteous, upright, virtuous; dutiful, observant, respectful; overconscientious; reliable, trustworthy, trusty

Near Antonyms unreliable, untrustworthy

Antonyms cutthroat, dishonest, dishonorable, immoral, unethical, unjust, unprincipled, unscrupulous

2 taking great care and effort <a guidance counselor who serves students by first being a conscientious listener> — see painstaking