painstaking

Valid in Scrabble

Scrabble points
18
Words With Friends
22
Letters
11
Pronunciation
/ˈpeɪnˌsteɪkɪŋ/ (US)
See all 3 pronunciations
/ˈpeɪnˌsteɪkɪŋ/ (US) · /ˈpeɪnzˌteɪkɪŋ/ (US) · /ˈpeɪnzˌteɪkɪŋ/ (UK)

Definition of painstaking

2 senses · 2 parts of speech · etymology included

adj

  1. Carefully attentive to details; studious; diligent in performing a process or procedure.
    “All these painstaking men, considered together, may be said to have completed another species of criticism.”
    “It is hoped to feature the historic vehicles to be found on the line in a future article, so that full justice may be done to the painstaking work of renovation on many of them, such as the North Eastern Railway Coach Group's NER autocoach No 3453.”
    “Earl de Sadist’s pioneering efforts didn’t stop there. When the thrill of wedgies faded, he put his great brain to work and after months of painstaking experimentation, he emerged from his workshop with a revolutionary kinky invention: the nipple clamp.”
See all 2 definitions

adj

  1. Carefully attentive to details; studious; diligent in performing a process or procedure.
    “All these painstaking men, considered together, may be said to have completed another species of criticism.”
    “It is hoped to feature the historic vehicles to be found on the line in a future article, so that full justice may be done to the painstaking work of renovation on many of them, such as the North Eastern Railway Coach Group's NER autocoach No 3453.”
    “Earl de Sadist’s pioneering efforts didn’t stop there. When the thrill of wedgies faded, he put his great brain to work and after months of painstaking experimentation, he emerged from his workshop with a revolutionary kinky invention: the nipple clamp.”

noun

  1. (countable, uncountable)The application of careful and attentive effort.
    “I esteeme Bocace his Decameron, Rabelais, and the kisses of John the second (if they may be placed under this title) worth the paines-taking to reade them.”
    “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.”
    “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.”

Definitions from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA.

Etymology

From pains + taking; see take pains. The /ˈpeɪnˌsteɪkɪŋ/ pronunciation which dominates in the United States suggests a reanalysis of the word as pain + staking.

Words you can make from painstaking

200+ playable · top: TIKINAGANS (15 pts)

Best play tikinagans 15 points

9-letter words

3 words

8-letter words

14 words

7-letter words

40 words

6-letter words

47 words

5-letter words

90 words

4-letter words

5 words

Hooks

1 extension · 1 back

A single letter you can add to painstaking to make another valid word.

Find your best play with painstaking

See every word you can make from a set of letters that includes painstaking, or browse word lists you can mine for high-scoring plays.