punctilious
showing great attention to detail or correct behavior
Word origin: From Italian puntiglio, a fine point, from Latin punctum, a point.
Punctilious in a sentence
Here are example sentences showing punctilious in a sentence.
He was punctilious about returning every email within the hour.
The archivist was punctilious about citation, recording every shelf mark and folio number.
Using “punctilious” well
Punctilious means scrupulously attentive to fine points of form or conduct. Unlike pedantic, it is not necessarily a criticism.
More GRE words starting with P
to calm or soothe someone who is angry or agitated
a song or expression of joyful praise or triumph
done with careful and thorough effort
agreeable to the taste or acceptable to the mind
resembling a palace in size or grandeur
rebirth, regeneration, or renewal into a new existence
to ease the severity of something without curing it
pale or lacking vitality and color
Questions about “punctilious”
See these words the way the GRE tests them.
Definitions in isolation do not stick. Sit a free, full-length GRE mock and meet this vocabulary inside real text completion and sentence equivalence questions, with your score and a worked solution for every answer.