painstaking

Meanings

1. 1
   adj

   characterized by extreme care and great effort

   It was painstaking but in the end totally worth it.

2. 2
   adj

   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.

3. 3
   noun

   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.

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.