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DILIGENCE
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I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
A diligent effort
Example:
it is a job requiring serious application
Synonyms:
application; diligence
Classified under:
Nouns denoting acts or actions
Hypernyms ("diligence" is a kind of...):
effort; elbow grease; exertion; sweat; travail (use of physical or mental energy; hard work)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Conscientiousness in paying proper attention to a task; giving the degree of care required in a given situation
Classified under:
Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects
Hypernyms ("diligence" is a kind of...):
conscientiousness; painstakingness (the trait of being painstaking and careful)
Sense 3
Meaning:
Persevering determination to perform a task
Example:
frugality and industry are still regarded as virtues
Synonyms:
diligence; industriousness; industry
Classified under:
Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects
Hypernyms ("diligence" is a kind of...):
determination; purpose (the quality of being determined to do or achieve something; firmness of purpose)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "diligence"):
assiduity; assiduousness; concentration (great and constant diligence and attention)
sedulity; sedulousness (the quality of being constantly diligent and attentive)
studiousness (diligent study)
Derivation:
diligent (characterized by care and perseverance in carrying out tasks)
diligent (quietly and steadily persevering especially in detail or exactness)
Context examples:
He was a man who wrought hard at all that he turned his hand to; but he heated himself in grinding bones to mix with his flour, and so through over-diligence he brought a fever upon himself and died.
(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
Eight weeks passed away like this, and I had written about Abbots and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and hoped with diligence that I might get on to the B’s before very long.
(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
He has the strength of many of his hand—witness again Jonathan when he shut the door against the wolfs, and when he help him from the diligence too.
(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)
At first I had neglected them, but now that I was able to decipher the characters in which they were written, I began to study them with diligence.
(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)
I have been very fortunate in worldly matters; many men have worked much harder, and not succeeded half so well; but I never could have done what I have done, without the habits of punctuality, order, and diligence, without the determination to concentrate myself on one object at a time, no matter how quickly its successor should come upon its heels, which I then formed.
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
But this was far from being the case, and though by unwearied diligence they gained even the top of the room, their situation was just the same; they saw nothing of the dancers but the high feathers of some of the ladies.
(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)
At three to-morrow the diligence will start for Bukovina; a place on it is kept for you.
(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)
Under the guidance of my new preceptors I entered with the greatest diligence into the search of the philosopher’s stone and the elixir of life; but the latter soon obtained my undivided attention.
(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)
As it drew nearer I observed that it was the Swiss diligence; it stopped just where I was standing, and on the door being opened, I perceived Henry Clerval, who, on seeing me, instantly sprung out.
(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)
