Word of the Day

Wednesday November 18, 2009

assiduous [uh-SIJ-oo-uhs]

adjective

Constant in application or attention; attentive; devoted.
Performed with constant diligence or attention; persistent; unremitting ;as, assiduous labor.

For my high-school graduation dance, I found, after assiduous searching, an old tuxedo in the stock room at a men's clothing store in the Halifax Shopping Centre called Goldberg's. It was, I would say, circa 1965 and had stovepipe legs, a short jacket and a gorgeously restrained shawl collar. Goldberg's thought it would be unable to sell it; I think I paid $100 for it. I wore it proudly among the frilly blue shirts and floppy velvet bow-ties.

Russell Smith ,"Don't be mad, men: JFK's style will never fade", The Globe and Mail, Sep 5, 2009
An assiduous student of health policy and an adept creature of the Senate, Daschle was Obama's first pick to oversee his reforms, but a firestorm over Daschle's failure to pay about $146,000 in taxes on time prompted the South Dakota Democrat in February to withdraw his nomination to be secretary of health and human services.

Philip Rucker, "Daschle Still Helps Shape Health-Reform Debate", The Washington Post, Aug 23, 2009
Among the persons who crowded around the enclosure, I remarked a young man with pale face and agitated features. I was struck with his appearance. He had been an assiduous spectator of my ascensions in several cities of Germany.

Jules Verne (1828 - 1905) A French author and pioneer of the science-fiction genre. A Voyage in a Balloon (1852)

Origin of the Word

Assiduous, approximately 1530, derives from Latin assiduus "busy, incessant, continual, constant," from assidere "to sit down to," thus "constantly occupied" at one's work; from ad "to" + sedere "to sit."