diligent

B1 Topic:Describing People

US /ˈdɪlɪdʒənt/ UK /ˈdɪlɪdʒənt/ See IPA manual

Freq #20285

Meanings

1

adj
Working hard and carefully, paying attention to detail.

A diligent student reviews her notes after every class.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 adj · working hard and carefully,... persevering

Appears in

Phrases (1)

See all

diligent search
a careful and persistent attempt to find something

Adjective + noun

Etymology

From Middle English diligent, from Old French diligent, from Latin dīligēns (“careful, attentive, diligent”), present participle of dīligō (“to love, esteem much”, literally “to choose, select”), from dī-, dis- (“apart”) + legō (“to choose”); see elect and select.

*leǵ- Proto-Indo-European diligent Middle English dīligēns Latin

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Describing People

External links

# diligent

**Type:** Word
**Level:** B1
**Part of speech:** adj
**IPA (US):** /ˈdɪlɪdʒənt/
**IPA (UK):** /ˈdɪlɪdʒənt/
**Frequency rank:** 20285

## Meanings
1. Working hard and carefully, paying attention to detail.

## Examples
- A diligent student reviews her notes after every class.

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: *leǵ-
- Root: diligent
- Root: dīligēns

## Etymology
From Middle English diligent, from Old French diligent, from Latin dīligēns (“careful, attentive, diligent”), present participle of dīligō (“to love, esteem much”, literally “to choose, select”), from dī-, dis- (“apart”) + legō (“to choose”); see elect and select.

## AI Etymology
diligent comes from Middle English diligent, from Old French diligent, from Latin dīligēns (“careful, attentive, diligent”), present participle of dīligō (“to love, esteem much”, literally “to choose, select”), from dī-, dis- (“apart”) + legō (“to choose”); see elect and select. The historical chain includes Proto-Indo-European *leǵ-, Middle English diligent, Old French diligent, Latin dīligēns. The current sense is Working hard and carefully, paying attention to detail.

## Topics
- Describing People

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