scrupulous

C2+ Topic:Ethics & Social Judgment

US /ˈskrupjələs/ UK /ˈskruːpjʊləs/ See IPA manual

adj

Meanings

1

adj
diligently attentive to detail and moral correctness

He kept scrupulous records of every penny he spent.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 adj · diligently attentive to... meticulous conscientious painstaking thorough careful punctilious fastidious

Opposites

careless negligent unscrupulous slapdash

Word family

Derived forms scrupulouslyscrupulousness

Related forms scruplescrupulosityunscrupulous

Etymology

From Latin 'scrupulosus' ('full of sharp stones; precise, exact'), from 'scrupulus' ('small sharp stone; anxiety'), diminutive of 'scrupus' ('rough pebble').

scrupulosus Latin scrupulus Latin

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Ethics & Social Judgment Word Formation & Derivatives

# scrupulous

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** adj
**IPA (US):** ˈskrupjələs
**IPA (UK):** ˈskruːpjʊləs

## Meanings
1. diligently attentive to detail and moral correctness

## Examples
- He kept scrupulous records of every penny he spent.

## Synonyms
- meticulous
- conscientious
- painstaking
- thorough
- careful
- punctilious
- fastidious

## Antonyms
- careless
- negligent
- unscrupulous
- slapdash

## Derived Forms
- scrupulously
- scrupulousness

## Related Forms
- scruple
- scrupulosity
- unscrupulous

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: scrupulosus
- Root: scrupulus

## Etymology
From Latin 'scrupulosus' ('full of sharp stones; precise, exact'), from 'scrupulus' ('small sharp stone; anxiety'), diminutive of 'scrupus' ('rough pebble').

## AI Etymology
Scrupulous comes from Latin 'scrupulosus' ('full of sharp stones; precise, exact'), from 'scrupulus' ('small sharp stone; anxiety'), diminutive of 'scrupus' ('rough pebble'). The historical chain includes Latin scrupulosus and Latin scrupulus. The quoted older senses, "scrupulosus", "full of sharp stones; precise, exact", "scrupulus", "small sharp stone; anxiety", and "scrupus", supply the semantic anchors for scrupulous. The formation is best read as borrowed: the word scrupulous carries its older form-history into a compact English lexical shape. In present English it is used as a adj, "diligently attentive to detail and moral correctness". English derivatives include scrupulously and scrupulousness; related English forms include scruple, scrupulosity, and unscrupulous. The result is a adj whose etymology preserves both the older form and the later English specialization.

## Topics
- Ethics & Social Judgment
- Word Formation & Derivatives

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