different between painstaking vs exacting

English

Alternative forms

• (archaic) pains-taking

Etymology

From pains +? taking.

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /?pe?n?ste?k??/
• (UK) IPA^(key): /?pe?nz?te?k??/

Adjective

painstaking (comparative more painstaking, superlative most painstaking)

1. Carefully attentive to details; diligent in performing a process or procedure.
   • 1781, James Harris, Philological Inquiries

     All these painstaking men, considered together, may be said to have completed another species of criticism.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:industrious
• See also Thesaurus:meticulous

Derived terms

• painstakingly, painstakingness

Translations

Noun

painstaking (countable and uncountable, plural painstakings)

1. The application of careful and attentive effort.
   • c. 1836, Thomas Chalmers, Lectures on the Romans

     It is not by a flight of imagination that you gain the ascents of spiritual experience. It is by the toils and the watchings and the painstakings of a solid obedience.

   • 1852, Nathaniel Langdon Frothingham, Sermons in the Order of a Twelvemonth, "Sermon VI"

     Behold what an abundant recompense attends the small processes of the earth, with the help of a little warm air; and what wealthy returns the industry of the husbandman and the florist is preparing from a few seeds and painstakings.

English

Etymology

exact +? -ing

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /???zækt??/
• Rhymes: -ækt??
• Hyphenation: ex?act?ing

Adjective

exacting (comparative more exacting, superlative most exacting)

1. Making excessive demands; difficult to satisfy.
2. (of an action, task, etc) Requiring precise accuracy, great care, effort, or attention.
3. (of a person or organization) Characterized by exaction.

Synonyms

• (difficult to satisfy): demanding
• (requiring precise accuracy, effort, care, or attention): demanding, niggly, pernickety
• (characterized by exaction): acquisitive, extortionate, grasping, money-grubbing, rapacious

Translations

Verb

exacting

1. Present participle and gerund of exact.

Derived terms

• exactingly
• exactingness

See also

• Thesaurus:fastidious
• Thesaurus:meticulous