conscientious

C1 Topic:Describing Qualities

US /ˌkɑn.ʃiˈɛn.ʃəs/ UK /ˌkɒn.ʃiˈɛn.ʃəs/ See IPA manual

Freq #20151

Meanings

1

adj
Careful to do your work thoroughly and well.

He was a thoughtful and conscientious worker.
2

adj
Guided by a strong sense of right and wrong.

She made a conscientious decision to speak out about the injustice.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 adj · careful to do your work... painstaking scrupulous careful

2 adj · guided by a strong sense of... principled

Opposites

capricious impulsive thoughtless

Word family

Derived forms conscientiously conscientiousnesshyperconscientiousnonconscientiousoverconscientiousultraconscientiousunconscientious

Related forms conscience

Appears in

Phrases (1)

See all

conscientious objector
a person who refuses military service because it conflicts with their moral beliefs

Adjective + noun

Etymology

From Middle French conscientieux, from Medieval Latin cōnscientiōsus. Its English equivalent could possibly be analyzed as conscient + -ous. See more at conscience.

conscientieux Middle French cōnscientiōsus la-med

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Describing Qualities Word Formation & Derivatives

External links

# conscientious

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C1
**Part of speech:** adj
**IPA (US):** /ˌkɑn.ʃiˈɛn.ʃəs/
**IPA (UK):** /ˌkɒn.ʃiˈɛn.ʃəs/
**Frequency rank:** 20151

## Meanings
1. Careful to do your work thoroughly and well.
2. Guided by a strong sense of right and wrong.

## Examples
- He was a thoughtful and conscientious worker.
- She made a conscientious decision to speak out about the injustice.

## Antonyms
- capricious
- impulsive
- thoughtless

## Derived Forms
- conscientiously
- conscientiousness
- hyperconscientious
- nonconscientious
- overconscientious
- ultraconscientious
- unconscientious

## Related Forms
- conscience

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: conscientieux
- Root: cōnscientiōsus

## Etymology
From Middle French conscientieux, from Medieval Latin cōnscientiōsus. Its English equivalent could possibly be analyzed as conscient + -ous. See more at conscience.

## AI Etymology
Conscientious is from Middle French conscientieux, from Medieval Latin cōnscientiōsus. Its English equivalent could possibly be analyzed as conscient + -ous. See more at conscience. The analysis is mainly morphological: the modern adjectival form is built from the named base and affix. In present-day use, it can mean careful to do your work thoroughly and well, or guided by a strong sense of right and wrong. Related forms include conscience. Derived formations include conscientiously, conscientiousness, hyperconscientious, nonconscientious, overconscientious.

## Topics
- Describing Qualities
- Word Formation & Derivatives

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