PAINSTAKINGLY Synonyms: 66 Similar and Opposite Words

painstakingly

adverb

as in meticulously

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Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of painstakingly Rather, its experience shows that reducing the harms of drug use requires painstakingly building and sustaining a system that connects people with treatment, healthcare and social support without making abstinence a precondition for receiving help. — Karyn Sporer, The Conversation, 14 Sep. 2026 The hothouse flowers of the salon—a nod to the city’s art nouveau Palmenhaus—were painstakingly painted by Viennese artist Marie Hartig, while the rooftop mural is by enigmatic graffiti artist KNARF. — Condé Nast, Condé Nast Traveler, 11 Sep. 2026 But the flipside to that level of polymathic genius is a desire to apply it to everything, to mold it painstakingly in your own hyperspecific image. — Julissa James, Los Angeles Times, 10 Sep. 2026 Hamaguchi told Deadline that the team painstakingly cemented Vincent and Yuffie into irrevocable mainstays while also giving Zack (not available in my preview) an increasingly important role in the trilogy’s larger time-boggling mystery. — Destiny Jackson, Deadline, 10 Sep. 2026 In those days, offensive coordinators had several hundred plays painstakingly written up, page after page. — David Aldridge, New York Times, 10 Sep. 2026 Martin Scorsese spends time detailing the lyrical finale of Before the Revolution, painstakingly describing its remarkable progression of shots, cuts, and sounds. — Bilge Ebiri, Vulture, 10 Sep. 2026 The three scoured data collected by the Chandra space telescope between 1999 and 2017 and painstakingly filtered out any random artifacts and other junk. — Adam Kovac, Scientific American, 9 Sep. 2026 Until now researchers had to run such a model one variant at a time or had to test variants in the laboratory, a process that was painstakingly slow. — Jeremy Kahn, Fortune, 8 Sep. 2026

Recent Examples of Synonyms for painstakingly

Adverb

Riding United is all about being open-minded, according to Vogel, who studies each course meticulously on foot to work out how many strides the pair should take between jumps.

— Danielle Rossingh, New York Times, 8 Sep. 2026
Spearheaded by the family’s patriarch, a civil engineer who spent five years meticulously guiding its development, it was envisioned as a place with soul, which is inspired by the family’s summers growing up on the island.

— Condé Nast, Condé Nast Traveler, 8 Sep. 2026

Definition of meticulously

Adverb

It has also only been trained on a limited number of cell types that biologists have studied exhaustively.

— John Timmer, ArsTechnica, 9 Sep. 2026
Preservation Connecticut’s searchable surveys, built in collaboration with the State Historic Preservation Office, exhaustively document historic barns, mills, artistic places, and town greens in every part of the state.

— Jane Montanaro, Hartford Courant, 20 Aug. 2026

Definition of exhaustively

Adverb

One way in which Wounaan do so is conscientiously sharing and redistributing food, money, wisdom and the like to foster equity.

— Chenier Carpio Opua, The Conversation, 5 Aug. 2026
By thinking locally, building conscientiously, and operationalizing sustainability in our deployment choices, AI users, companies, and developers can also help ensure that the infrastructure powering our future doesn’t cost us the earth.

— Sasha Luccioni, Time, 3 July 2026

Definition of conscientiously

Adverb

With respect to Cunha — who has thoroughly impressed while playing all four of Glasner’s games so far — some might have viewed his Forest team-mates Igor Jesus or Murillo as more likely to be included in Ancelotti’s latest squad.

— Paul Taylor, New York Times, 11 Sep. 2026
Wright recommends shampooing twice before a blowout to thoroughly remove oil and product buildup, followed by a lightweight conditioner.

— Casey DelBasso, ABC News, 11 Sep. 2026

Definition of thoroughly

Adverb

But few economists, on the left or the right, took the president's suggestion of lowering rates seriously.

— DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE STAFFFROM WIRE REPORTS, Arkansas Online, 17 Sep. 2026
Wilson is not really acting so much as doing shtick, but as Tassie starts listening to the girls’ stories, she’s inspired to take her mentorship role more seriously.

— David Rooney, HollywoodReporter, 16 Sep. 2026

Definition of seriously

Adverb

And there is a shocking dearth of evidence to the contrary, given how ardently Peters and her supporters have clung to this narrative for the past six years.

— The Denver Post Editorial Board, Denver Post, 7 July 2026
Kevan Harris, an associate professor of sociology at UCLA who has studied the Iranian diaspora, said some of the ardently monarchist Iranians became disillusioned and demobilized when the war’s initial objective of regime change failed.

— Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 14 June 2026

Definition of ardently

Adverb

Roberts came away from the conversation excited by how earnestly Heyward embraced that message.

— Maddie Lee, Los Angeles Times, 25 Aug. 2026
On day two, one of the servers tells me earnestly that a bowl of vegetable soup, consumed properly, should take about half an hour to finish.

— Justin Fenner, Robb Report, 15 Aug. 2026

Definition of earnestly

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“Painstakingly.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/painstakingly. Accessed 19 Sep. 2026.

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Synonyms of painstakingly

adverb

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