conscientious
/ˌkɒn.ʃiˈɛn.ʃəs/
conscientious means thorough, careful, or vigilant in one’s task performance; painstaking. It carries an Arena rating of 1688, earned across 13 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, conscientious ranks #618 of 17,127 for Words That Escaped Their Books, #1,900 of 17,134 for Most Malleable Words, #5,398 of 17,104 for Most Storied Words, #6,659 of 17,126 for Most Elegant Words.
conscientious is pronounced /ˌkɒn.ʃiˈɛn.ʃəs/.
Why “conscientious” is a great word
Governed by or acting in accordance with one's conscience, manifesting as both principled integrity and meticulous diligence in one's duties. From Medieval Latin cōnscientiōsus, from Latin conscientia ("knowledge within oneself, conscience") + -ōsus ("full of"), first recorded in English use 1605–15. Unlike "capricious" (which acts on sudden whim) or "thoughtless" (which fails to consider consequences), conscientiousness is a sustained, inner-directed discipline. It is the ledger balanced to the last penny long after midnight, the measured footfall of the night watchman on his unchanging rounds, and the careful mending of a thing not for show but because it is simply right—a quiet covenant with order in a world leaning toward entropy.
Etymology
From Middle French conscientieux, from Medieval Latin cōnscientiōsus. Its English equivalent could possibly be analyzed as conscient + -ous. See more at conscience.
adj
- Thorough, careful, or vigilant in one’s task performance; painstaking.e.g.“He was a thoughtful and conscientious worker.”
- Influenced by conscience; principled; governed by a strict regard to the dictates of conscience, or by the known or supposed rules of right and wrong (said of a person).e.g.“The advice of wise and conscientious people.”
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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