Basic Details
Word: Diligent
Part of Speech: Adjective
Meaning: Hard-working and careful; doing a job thoroughly and steadily.
Synonyms: hard-working, industrious, careful, conscientious
Antonyms: lazy, careless, negligent, idle
How to Spell Diligent
Syllables: dil - i - gent
Tricky part: Both early vowels are i: d-i-l-i. Students write deligent or dilligent, and the end is gent, not gant.
Watch out for: deligent, dilligent, diligant
Memory tip: A diligent gent does his job with care: dili + gent, with only one l.
Usage Examples
Example 1: The diligent tailor stitched every button twice.
Example 2: The diligent nurse checked on every patient during the night.
Example 3: Years of diligent practice made her the best tabla player in the school.
Fun Fact
Diligent comes from the Latin diligere, to value highly or to love; a diligent worker takes care, as people do with things they value.
Practise the CREST Way
Word Connection
Choose the word opposite in meaning to diligent as used in the sentence:
The diligent clerk checked every bill twice before sending it to the accounts office.
a) industrious
b) negligent
c) careful
d) quiet
Show answer
b) negligent. Diligent means careful and hard-working; negligent means careless.
Mingle-Mangle
Unjumble the word in the sentence and choose it:
Only a lgdinite reader could have checked all fifty answers twice in so short a time.
a) diligent
b) diligence
c) delegate
d) indulgent
Show answer
a) diligent. A careful, hard-working reader is a diligent one; diligence is a noun and needs a c.
Word Cookie
Insert the correct pair of letters to form a word:
d_l_gent
a) i, e
b) e, i
c) i, i
d) e, e
Show answer
c) i, i. Two i's, one in each of the first two syllables: dil-i-gent.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. Which of these shows a diligent student?
a) one who copies homework from a friend each morning
b) one who revises daily and does homework carefully
c) one who skips tests whenever possible
d) one who sleeps through most of the class
Show answer
b) one who revises daily and does homework carefully
2. Diligence is the ____ form of diligent.
a) noun
b) verb
c) adverb
d) pronoun
Show answer
a) noun
