methodical

Etymology

It is formed from English methodic + -al.^[2][3][4] The first part is from Late Latin methodicus,^[2][5][3] from Ancient Greek μεθοδικός (methodikós, “going to work by rule, systematic”),^[5][1] from μέθοδος (méthodos, “method”),^[5][6] from μετά (metá, “in pursuit of”) and ὁδός (hodós, “way”).^[5][7] Etymonline also names French as a source, and Merriam-Webster Unabridged takes the first part from Middle French methodique, the source Johnson gave too.^[5][7][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of a procedure or discourse, characterized by method or order: 1570, in J. Dee's contribution to H. Billingsley's translation of Euclid.^[2][7] Etymonline gives the 1560s for the sense "pertaining to or characterized by method".^[5]

Semantic evolution

From 1574 to 1837 the word also named the ancient school of physicians called the Methodists, first in G. Baker's translation of a medical work.^[2][7][4] It was applied to people from 1589, in Puttenham's Arte of English Poesie,^[2] and rarely to neatly arranged material things, from 1650, in Fuller.^[2] Etymonline dates "systematic, orderly" to the 1660s, later than the OED's quotations.^[5][2] Johnson (1755) defined it as "ranged or proceeding in due or just order".^[8]

Timeline

• 1570 – of a procedure or discourse, characterized by method or order.^[2][7]
• 1574 – of the ancient medical school of the Methodists (obsolete by 1837).^[2]
• 1589 – of a person, acting with method; painstaking.^[2]
• 1650 – of material things, neatly arranged.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Done or arranged according to a method; orderly, systematic: a methodical search of the building.^[9][7][2]
2. Of a person, habitually working in an ordered way; meticulous: She is methodical about keeping her accounts.^[7][2][4]
3. Of or relating to method.^[7]
4. (rare) Of material things, neatly arranged.^[2][4]
5. (obsolete, 1574–1837) Of the ancient school of physicians, the Methodists.^[2][7][4]

Word family

• methodically
• methodicalness
• immethodical
• unmethodical

Related words

• methodological
• method
• methodic
• methodology
• methodist

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
4. ^ a b c d e Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
8. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
9. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins