painstaking

1 of 2

adjective

pains·​tak·​ing ˈpān-ˌstā-kiŋ 

: taking pains : expending, showing, or involving diligent care and effort

painstaking research

painstaking tasks

painstaking accuracy

painstakingly

ˈpān-ˌstā-kiŋ-lē 

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

Synonyms of painstaking

Adjective

• meticulous
• careful
• conscientious
• loving
• diligent

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

Adjective

The current multi-year refurbishment, which started in late 2019, is a painstaking attempt to thoroughly modernize the interior facilities both aesthetically and operationally while paying tribute to the original 19th-century elegance. — William Jones, USA Today, 30 July 2026

At Aeon Mall in Kashima, a gas explosion and collapsed upper floor killed shoppers and workers, trapping others as sweltering heat complicates painstaking searches for the missing. — Mari Yamaguchi, Los Angeles Times, 29 July 2026

The tally is low because catching one is painstaking work, requiring sequencing the genomes of both the tumor and the host and showing the two do not match, which almost no one does in wild animals. — John Drake, Forbes.com, 27 July 2026

In her acknowledgments, Jacobsen pauses to remind her readers that her tale’s painstaking realism is just a literary device. — Gideon Lewis-Kraus, New Yorker, 25 July 2026

Word History

First Known Use

Adjective

circa 1685, in the meaning defined above

Noun

1538, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for painstaking

• awaking
• backbreaking
• bookmaking
• breathtaking
• brickmaking
• caretaking
• dressmaking
• filmmaking
• forsaking
• glassmaking
• groundbreaking
• haymaking

Kids Definition

painstaking

adjective

pains·​tak·​ing

ˈpān-ˌstā-kiŋ

: taking or showing great care and effort

a painstaking search

painstakingly

-kiŋ-lē

adverb