diligence

diligence

English

Plate 1 of classical virtues: Diligence. She is holding a whip and spurs, signifying a drive to steadfastly move forward with one's means.

Etymology

Borrowed from French diligence.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈdɪlɪdʒəns/
• Hyphenation: di‧li‧gence
• The stage-coach sense may be pronounced as in French.

Noun

diligence (countable and uncountable, plural diligences)

1. Steady application; industry; careful work involving long-term effort.
2. The qualities of a hard worker, including conscientiousness, determination, and perseverance.
3. Carefulness.

   (Can we add an example for this sense?)

   due diligence

4. (historical) A public stage-coach.
   • 1818, [Mary Shelley], chapter V, in Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus. […], volume I, London: […] [Macdonald and Son] for Lackington, Hughes, Harding, Mavor, & Jones, OCLC 830979744:

     Continuing thus, I came at length opposite to the inn at which the various diligences and carriages usually stopped.

   • 1879, Robert Louis Stevenson, Travels with a Donkey in the Cévennes, 1st American edition, Boston, Mass.: Roberts Brothers, OCLC 5979975:

     Being in a civilised country of stage-coaches, I determined to sell my lady friend and be off by the diligence that afternoon.

5. (Scotland, law) The process by which persons, lands, or effects are seized for debt; process for enforcing the attendance of witnesses or the production of writings.

Synonyms

• worksomeness (rare)

Derived terms

• due diligence
• summary diligence

Translations

carefulness

Danish: omhu Finnish: huolellisuus (fi) German: Sorgfalt (de) Latvian: gādīgums m Russian: рачительность (ru) (račitelʹnostʹ)

qualities of a hard worker, including conscientiousness, determination, perseverance

Arabic: اِجْتِهَاد‎ (ar) m (ijtihād) Belarusian: стара́ннасць f (staránnascʹ), руплі́васць f (ruplívascʹ), дба́йнасць f (dbájnascʹ), гарлі́васць f (harlívascʹ), пі́льнасць f (pílʹnascʹ), працаві́тасць f (pracavítascʹ) Bulgarian: стара́ние (bg) n (staránie), прилежа́ние (bg) n (priležánie), усъ́рдие (bg) n (usǎ́rdie) Burmese: လုံ့လ (my) (lum.la.) Catalan: diligència (ca) f Chinese: Mandarin: 勤奮／勤奋 (zh) (qínfèn), 用功 (zh) (yònggōng) Czech: píle (cs) f, pracovitost f Dutch: toewijding (nl) f, vasthoudendheid (nl) f Finnish: ahkeruus (fi) French: diligence (fr) f Galician: dilixencia f German: Fleiß (de) m, Eifer (de) m Greek: προκοπή (el) f (prokopí) Hindi: अध्यवसाय (hi) m (adhyavsāy), परिश्रम (hi) m (pariśram) Hungarian: szorgalom (hu) Japanese: 精励 (ja) (せいれい, seirei), 勤勉 (ja) (きんべん, kinben) Khmer: បរក្រម (km) (bɑkrɑɑm), ព្យាយាម (km) (pyiəyiəm) Korean: 근면 (ko) (geunmyeon), 열심 (ko) (yeolsim) Kyrgyz: эмгекчилдик (emgekçildik) Lao: ພິຣິຍະ (phi ri nya) Latvian: centība f Lithuanian: darbštumas m Luxembourgish: Fläiss m Macedonian: трудољубивост f (trudoljubivost), усрдност f (usrdnost) Norwegian: flid m Bokmål: iherdighet m or f Polish: pilność (pl) f, pracowitość (pl) f Portuguese: diligência (pt) f Romanian: sârguință (ro) f, diligență (ro) f Russian: усе́рдие (ru) n (usérdije), стара́тельность (ru) f (starátelʹnostʹ), прилежа́ние (ru) n (priležánije), стара́ние (ru) n (staránije), трудолю́бие (ru) n (trudoljúbije) Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: ма̀рљиво̄ст f Roman: màrljivōst (sh) f Slovak: pracovitosť f Slovene: marljivost f Spanish: diligencia (es) f, esmero (es) m Swedish: ihärdighet (sv) c, flit (sv) c Thai: วิริยะ (th), ความขยัน (th) Turkish: çalışkanlık (tr), hamaratlık (tr), özen (tr), sebat (tr) Ukrainian: стара́нність f (staránnistʹ), рете́льність f (retélʹnistʹ), дбайли́вість f (dbajlývistʹ), пи́льність f (pýlʹnistʹ), зага́рливість f (zahárlyvistʹ), працьови́тість (uk) f (pracʹovýtistʹ), працелю́бність (uk) f (praceljúbnistʹ) Vietnamese: sự siêng năng (vi) Welsh: diwydrwydd m

public stage-coach

Bulgarian: дилижа́нс m (diližáns) Catalan: diligència (ca) f Dutch: diligence (nl) f, postkoets (nl) f Finnish: diligenssi (fi) French: diligence (fr) f Latvian: diližanss m Norwegian: diligence m Polish: dyliżans (pl) m Portuguese: diligência (pt) f Romanian: diligență (ro) f, poștalion (ro) n Russian: дилижа́нс (ru) m (diližáns)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

Serbo-Croatian: (please verify) revnost (sh), (please verify) marljivost (sh), (please verify) priležnost Spanish: (please verify) esmero (es) m

Anagrams

• ceilinged

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Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from French diligence.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˌdi.liˈʒɑns/, /ˌdi.liˈʒɑn.sə/

• Audio

  (file)

• Hyphenation: di‧li‧gen‧ce

Noun

diligence f (plural diligences)

1. (historical) A diligence, a stage-coach.

   Synonym: postkoets

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French

Etymology

diligence

Borrowed from Latin diligentia.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /di.li.ʒɑ̃s/

• Audio

  (file)

• Audio (Switzerland)

  (file)

Noun

diligence f (countable and uncountable, plural diligences)

1. (uncountable) diligence, conscientiousness
2. (uncountable) haste
3. (countable) stage-coach, diligence

Derived terms

• faire diligence

Related terms

• diligent

Descendants

• → Dutch: diligence
• → English: diligence

Further reading

• “diligence”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.