adjective C2 Proficient

painstaking

PAYNZ-tay-kihng

Painstaking (adjective) means Done with great care and thorough attention to detail. Example: “Restoring the painting required painstaking work over several months.”

adjective

Done with great care and thorough attention to detail.

"Restoring the painting required painstaking work over several months."

"Her painstaking research uncovered documents no one else had found."

How to use painstaking

Learner’s notes

In plain EnglishExtremely careful and thorough, often to the point of being slow.

Common pairings

painstaking detail painstaking research painstaking effort

Word forms

more painstaking comparative, painstakings plural, most painstaking superlative

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Restoring the painting required _____ work over several months.

Etymology

Built from "pains" (effort) plus "taking," from the phrase "take pains." Because it's commonly pronounced as if it were "pain-staking," some speakers mistakenly assume it relates to a stake rather than to careful effort.

Rhymes for painstaking

baking making waking taking faking raking shaking leaking quaking soaking braking staking

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Frequently asked questions

What does “painstaking” mean?

The word “painstaking” means done with great care and thorough attention to detail. In plain terms, extremely careful and thorough, often to the point of being slow.

How do you pronounce “painstaking”?

“Painstaking” is pronounced PAYNZ-tay-kihng (/ˈpeɪnˌsteɪkɪŋ/ in IPA).

How do you use “painstaking” in a sentence?

Here is “painstaking” used in a sentence: “Restoring the painting required painstaking work over several months.”

What part of speech is “painstaking”?

“Painstaking” is an adjective.

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