conscientious

conscientious — adjective

1. A conscientious person works with genuine care and thoroughness, making sure eve

1.adjectiveC1
Definition

A conscientious person works with genuine care and thoroughness, making sure every part of a task is done correctly — for instance, always checking their work before sending it in.

Example

Indra is a conscientious worker who always checks her reports for mistakes before sending them.

collocation: conscientious worker / conscientious student / conscientious employee

The conscientious nurse recorded each patient's temperature twice during her shift.

Common collocations
  • conscientious worker
  • conscientious student
  • conscientious employee
  • conscientious about details
  • conscientious about deadlines
  • conscientious attitude
  • conscientious effort
  • conscientious approach
Synonyms
  • meticulous

    Stronger focus on extreme attention to tiny details; often used for tasks that require precision

  • diligent

    Emphasises steady, persistent effort rather than thoroughness

  • thorough

    More general; describes the result (complete and careful) rather than the person's inner attitude

  • careful

    Less formal and more widely used; lacks the moral sense of duty that 'conscientious' carries

Antonyms
  • careless

    Shows lack of attention or concern

  • negligent

    Stronger, implying failure to take proper care in a duty or responsibility

  • sloppy

    Informal; suggests messy or disorganised work with little care for quality

Grammar Patterns

conscientious + noun

conscientious about [something]

Usage Note

Primarily describes a person's approach to tasks or responsibilities. Compared to 'hard-working', which emphasizes the amount of effort, 'conscientious' stresses the care and thoroughness behind the effort. Rarely used for objects or abstract ideas.

Common Mistakes

She is a very conscious employee who always meets her deadlines.
She is a very conscientious employee who always meets her deadlines.
'Conscious' describes being awake or aware; 'conscientious' describes being careful and thorough in one's work.

Word family

Synonym discussion

Sense: adjective/1

These four words all describe doing work with attention and effort, but differ in focus. 'Conscientious' combines a sense of moral responsibility with thoroughness — a conscientious person does good work because they feel it is the right thing to do. 'Meticulous' zooms in on the details: a meticulous person notices every tiny point and will not let even a small error slip. 'Diligent' is about steady, persistent effort over time; a diligent student works hard every day, whereas a conscientious student might work hard because they care deeply about doing their best. 'Thorough' describes the result (complete, no gaps) rather than the person's inner drive. 'Careful' is the most common, least formal option and simply means avoiding mistakes. For example, a careful driver watches the road; a conscientious driver also feels a duty to keep passengers safe.

meticulous ↗diligentthorough ↗careful ↗

Common collocations

Nouns

Adverbs

  • highly conscientious
  • extremely conscientious
  • very conscientious

Phrases

  • in a conscientious manner
  • with conscientious attention

Prepositions

  • conscientious about

Etymology

LatinFrenchEnglish

The word comes from Latin 'conscientia', meaning 'knowledge within oneself' or 'moral awareness'. This was formed from 'com-' (together) and 'scire' (to know). Through French, it entered English around the 1600s. The original sense was 'acting according to one's conscience', which over time developed into the modern meaning of 'working carefully and thoroughly' — as if guided by an inner sense of duty.