From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishmethodicalme‧thod‧i‧cal /məˈθɒdɪkəl $ -ˈθɑː-/ AWL adjective 1 CAREFULa methodical way of doing something is careful and uses an ordered system He always checked every detail in a methodical way. a methodical approach to answering questions► see thesaurus at careful2 CAREFULa methodical person always does things carefully, using an ordered system She’s a very methodical person. He had a neat, methodical mind. —methodically /-kli/ adverb He went through the papers methodically, one by one.
Examples from the Corpus
methodical• He was methodical, almost impersonal.• At the other end of the scale there are ambitious research projects undertaken for methodical demonstration purposes.• A methodical fellow, Zubkoff discovered that his problem arose only when he processed his film during the day.• After more than two decades on the national scene, the methodical Gore is a seasoned politician.• Barnes is a conscientious and methodical journalist who would have checked all of the facts before writing the story.• a cautious, methodical killer• Poirot, always deliberate and methodical, made a list of all the possible suspects.• The handwriting throughout appears neat and small and regular, as one might expect from a man of methodical mind.• methodical research• So, too, is his stress on the importance of finding, and following, a methodical route to knowledge.• These activities are most likely to appeal to the more methodical student wishing to follow a clear procedure.• He approached detective fiction as a craft that could be learned through careful, methodical study. 