Standard Lemma guide

painstakingly

adv · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • /ˈpeɪnˌsteɪkɪŋli/
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: P EY1 N S T EY2 K IH0 NG L IY0 Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

adv

Meaning 1

In a painstaking manner; very slowly and carefully.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

adverb

Meaning 2

in a fastidious and painstaking manner

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • it is almost a waste of time painstakingly to learn the routines of selling

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: fastidiously

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

Etymology tree English painstaking Middle English -ly English -ly English painstakingly From painstaking + -ly.

Across languages

Translations

12 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • French: méticuleusement — in a painstaking manner; very slowly and carefully
  • French: minutieusement — in a painstaking manner; very slowly and carefully
  • Galician: coidadosamente — in a painstaking manner; very slowly and carefully
  • Norwegian: med pinlig nøyaktighet — in a painstaking manner; very slowly and carefully
  • Romanian: migălos — in a painstaking manner; very slowly and carefully
  • Russian: приле́жно (priléžno) — in a painstaking manner; very slowly and carefully
  • Russian: тща́тельно (tščátelʹno) — in a painstaking manner; very slowly and carefully
  • Russian: усе́рдно (usérdno) — in a painstaking manner; very slowly and carefully
  • Russian: дото́шно (dotóšno) — in a painstaking manner; very slowly and carefully
  • Russian: кропотли́во (kropotlívo) — in a painstaking manner; very slowly and carefully
  • Spanish: dispendiosamente — in a painstaking manner; very slowly and carefully
  • Spanish: a rajatabla — in a painstaking manner; very slowly and carefully