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Wednesday April 9, 2003

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assiduous \uh-SIJ-oo-uhs\ , adjective:
1. Constant in application or attention; devoted; attentive.
2. Performed with constant diligence or attention; unremitting; persistent; as, "assiduous labor."

I can scarcely find time to write you even a Love Letter, Samuel Adams, an assiduous committeeman, wrote his wife in early 1776.
-- Pauline Maier, American Scripture: Making the Declaration of Independence

But he was assiduous in visiting the sick and the poor, however remote their farms and cottages.
-- Jan Morris, "With God where the cuckoos sing", Independent, November 23, 1996

But he was a man who by assiduous reading, through his devotion to literature, had become the quintessential successful gentleman, a man who could hold his own with the most cultivated companions.
-- Milton Gould, quoted in "For Cooke, a Lasting Memorial," by Peter Finn and Richard Justice, Washington Post, April 11, 1997

But Dr. Frist, who has represented Tennessee in the Senate since 1995, is also enjoying something of a honeymoon among moderate Republicans, the result of assiduous efforts not to isolate a group of senators who will play a vital role in shaping compromises on taxes and Medicare.
-- David Firestone, "Frist Forsakes Deal Making to Focus on Party Principles", New York Times, March 13, 2003

Assiduous is from Latin assiduus, "constantly sitting near; hence diligent, persistent," from assidere, "to attend to," from ad-, "towards, to" + sedere, "to sit."

Dictionary.com Entry and Pronunciation for assiduous

 

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