different between thoroughgoing vs punctilious

English

Etymology

From thorough +? going (adjective).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /???????????/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /???????o???/, /-?o?/
• Hyphenation: tho?rough?go?ing

Adjective

thoroughgoing (comparative more thoroughgoing, superlative most thoroughgoing)

1. With great attention to detail; complete, thorough.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:total

   • 1871, Walt Whitman, Democratic Vistas, New York: J.S. Redfield, p.50, [1]

     It must be reiterated, as, for the purpose of these Memoranda, the deep lesson of History and Time, that all else in the contributions of a nation or age, through its politics, materials, heroic personalities, military eclat, &c., remains crude, and defers, in any close and thorough-going estimate, until vitalized by national, original archetypes in literature.

   • 1927, T. S. Eliot, "The Humanism of Irving Babbitt," in Selected Essays, New York: Harcourt, Brace & World, 1964, p. 425,

     I am myself a thoroughgoing individualist, writing for those who are, like myself, irrevocably committed to the modern experiment.

   • 1938, Xavier Herbert, Capricornia, New York: D. Appleton-Century, 1943, Chapter XI, p. 182, [2]

     Mr. Prayter was a thorough-going cleric in the way of eating. He ate till there was nothing left.

   • 1967, Time, "Marijuana is Still Illegal," 29 December, 1967, [3]

     After six months of preparation, Lawyer Joseph Oteri began in September the most thoroughgoing legal attack on antimarijuana laws ever made.

Alternative forms

• thorough-going

Hypernyms

• going

Derived terms

• thoroughgoingly

Related terms

• thoroughgo (obsolete)
• thoroughgoer (rare)

Translations

References

English

Etymology

From punctilio (“fine point in exactness of conduct”) +? -ous.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /p??k?t?li.?s/

Adjective

punctilious (comparative more punctilious, superlative most punctilious)

1. Strictly attentive to detail; meticulous or fastidious, particularly to codes or conventions.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:meticulous

2. Precise or scrupulous; finicky or nitpicky.

   Synonyms: finicky, nitpicky, precise; see also Thesaurus:meticulous

   • 2009, Ronnie Cann, Ruth Kempson and Eleni Gregoromichelaki, Semantics: an introduction to meaning in language

Derived terms

• punctiliously
• punctiliousness

Related terms

• point
• punctuate
• punctual
• punctuality
• punctuation

Translations

Further reading

• punctilious in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.