How to Use painstaking in a Sentence

painstaking

adjective
  • The book describes the election process in painstaking detail.
  • The painstaking process might take years.
    — David D. Kirkpatrick, New Yorker, 30 Mar. 2026
  • The loupe lays bare just how painstaking this work can be.
    — Jon Wertheim, CBS News, 8 Dec. 2025
  • Filling in these blanks was a painstaking effort for the team.
    — Christian Thorsberg, Smithsonian Magazine, 12 Feb. 2024
  • Puzzled by his painstaking care, the tech leader had to ask why.
    — Emma Burleigh, Fortune, 28 Sep. 2025
  • For those that are, the painstaking work of being preserved can take years.
    — Sheri Linden, The Hollywood Reporter, 4 Mar. 2023
  • This painstaking process was not the exception.
    — Elaine Yu, CNBC, 25 Mar. 2026
  • Trust, once fractured, is painstaking to rebuild and never quite the same.
    — Marc Cooper, Forbes.com, 25 Mar. 2026
  • But years of painstaking data analysis were still to come.
    — Jacek Krywko, Scientific American, 30 Sep. 2025
  • Can painstaking artists like Selick swim in today's streamscape?
    — Leah Greenblatt, EW.com, 21 Oct. 2022
  • Each new blend goes through a painstaking development process.
    — Baroness Sheri De Borchgrave, Robb Report, 19 Mar. 2023
  • But finding the root cause of the explosion will also be a painstaking task.
    — Rebekah Riess, CNN Money, 14 Oct. 2025
  • What used to take years of training and painstaking hours of work can now be done with only a few taps of a keyboard.
    — Rahul Raj, Rolling Stone, 17 Jan. 2023
  • Well, not if the last five years of painstaking preparation have gone according to plan.
    — Jordan Campbell, New York Times, 5 June 2026
  • The whole design process takes five painstaking years, from initial drawings to the vessel’s launch.
    — Rachel Cormack, Robb Report, 7 Aug. 2023
  • Preparations took painstaking hours as hair was coiffed, and when needed, beards, were applied and trimmed.
    — Frederick N. Rasmussen, Baltimore Sun, 7 Jan. 2024
  • In the midst of this painstaking work, her drinking intensified.
    — Jeremy Lybarger, The New Republic, 24 Apr. 2023
  • News articles described the crime scene in gory, painstaking detail.
    — Ian Berry, CNN Money, 22 Sep. 2025
  • The process is generally too painstaking and slow for de-pilling an entire pillow.
    — Brandee Gruener, Southern Living, 18 Aug. 2025
  • But identifying an entire shipping route that is safe from mines is a painstaking process that takes time.
    — Lauren Kent, CNN Money, 8 May 2026
  • Taking the next step forward means reviewing all of last year's in painstaking detail.
    — Nate Atkins, The Indianapolis Star, 11 May 2023
  • Much of this is largely due to Cameron's painstaking recreation of the titular ship.
    — Chris Snellgrove, EW.com, 15 Dec. 2022
  • Owens puts painstaking thought into every nook and cranny and changes things up each year, Martin said.
    — Charlotte Observer, 10 Dec. 2025
  • After more than a decade of painstaking work, Wisk Aero’s flying taxi is ready for the market.
    — Rachel Cormack, Robb Report, 4 Oct. 2022
  • Its painstaking, four-year restoration cost over $700,000.
    — Howard Walker, Robb Report, 10 June 2026
  • With only a fraction of the records reviewed so far, Raskin cautioned that the process would be slow and painstaking.
    — Nik Popli, Time, 10 Feb. 2026
  • That concern led to two years of painstaking work to map the seafloor with laser and sonar scanners in an attempt to increase their odds of success.
    — Nancy Averett, Scientific American, 2 Jan. 2024
  • Figuring out how and when to parcel out the information was a painstaking process.
    — Jim Hemphill, IndieWire, 26 Jan. 2026
  • Settling on a Christmas tree theme can be as painstaking as landing on a gift idea for the dad who has everything.
    — Kelsey Mulvey, ELLE Decor, 8 Dec. 2022
  • Each character is flawed, sure, but the show goes to painstaking detail to prove everyone’s just trying their best.
    — Anna Moeslein, Glamour, 21 Mar. 2023

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'painstaking.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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