conscientious
adjective
Simple meaning
Careful and hardworking, wanting to do things properly.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
kahnsheeehnshuhsSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
kɑnʃiˈɛnʃəs
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
adjective
Guided by or in accordance with conscience or sense of right and wrong
“A conscientious decision to speak out about injustice.”
Influenced by conscience; principled; governed by a strict regard to the dictates of conscience, or by the known or supposed rules of right and wrong (said of a person).
Thorough, careful, or vigilant in one's task performance; painstaking.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C1 · Advanced (estimated)
- Frequency
- Uncommon
- Typical Use
- Primarily written
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Guided by or in accordance with conscience or sense of right and wrong
Used this way, conscientious is a common word with a faintly unfavourable edge. It turns up most in ethics or values contexts.
“A conscientious decision to speak out about injustice.”
- Emotional tone
- Slightly negative
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Moderate
- How common
- Common
- Connotation
- Critical or judgemental
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Where it naturally appears
- Ethics/values
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use conscientious
- “A conscientious decision to speak out about injustice.”adjective
Share your sentence
Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
One who refuses to serve in the armed forces on grounds of conscience.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
Sense: guided by or in accordance with conscience
Use This Word
See how this word sounds in a real sentence.
Ask Vocabaura
Understand the word your way.
What Does It Mean Here?
Words can change meaning depending on context.
Collections with this word
Themed sets you can browse for free.
Use it yourself
Knowing “conscientious” starts when you use it. Pick a next step, all free.
Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.