Diligently

How to spell diligently

10 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce diligently

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does diligently mean?

1. adverbIn a way that shows careful, persistent, and conscientious effort.

Diligently in a sentence

• She worked diligently through every page of the contract before signing.

• The auditors diligently checked each receipt against the ledger.

Where does diligently come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This adverb is built on the adjective diligent, which English took from the Latin diligens, the present participle of the verb diligere. That verb literally meant 'to value highly' or 'to take delight in', and it was formed from di- (a variant of dis-, here meaning 'apart' or 'thoroughly') plus legere, 'to choose, gather, or read'. The idea travelled naturally from 'choosing carefully' to 'paying close, loving attention', which is how it came to mean steady, painstaking effort. English borrowed diligent through Old French in the 1300s, and the -ly ending was simply added to turn the quality into a manner of doing things. The same legere root underlies words like 'select', 'collect', and 'lecture', and remembering the careful, choosing sense helps fix the soft -gent- that sits in the middle.

How the word is built

• diligent (from Latin diligens: careful, attentive)
• -ly (adverb suffix)