punctilio

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

They combined, then as now, a wild bureaucratic adherence to punctilio and procedure with entanglements of cohort and clan that could shortcut the procedure in a moment.

From The New Yorker • Jan. 8, 2017

There lingers, even in our mercantile age, an admiration for the aristocratic ethos, the punctilio, of the duel.

From Washington Post • Jul. 8, 2015

Protocol, punctilio, politesse suddenly drop, leaving Tennyson’s “Nature, red in tooth and claw.”

From BusinessWeek • Sep. 29, 2011

The Navy's top command, with a few exceptions, exemplifies the insulation, compartmented authority, punctilio which make up "the military mind."

From Time Magazine Archive

The whole difficulty resolves itself into a mere matter of punctilio, founded perhaps on ill-grounded jealousy, or misapprehension, which a little explanation would probably remove.

From A Treatise on the Police of the Metropolis Containing a Detail of the Various Crimes and Misdemeanors by which Public and Private Property and Security are, at Present, Injured and Endangered: and Suggesting Remedies for their Prevention by Colquhoun, Patrick