gründlichen

Gründlichen is the declined form of the German adjective gründlich, meaning thorough, meticulous, or exhaustive. The form gründlichen appears in various grammatical cases and numbers when the adjective follows a definite determiner (der, die, das, die) or a possessive determiner, and thus takes the weak declension. It is used especially in singular masculine accusative (den gründlichen Bericht), singular masculine dative (dem gründlichen Mann), singular neuter dative (dem gründlichen Kind), singular neuter genitive (des gründlichen Kindes), and in plural dative (den gründlichen Leuten), as well as in other cases with the corresponding determiner.

In practice, gründlichen is most commonly seen in formal or written German where precision is required. It contrasts with other endings such as gründliche (nominative/accusative plural or feminine singular) and gründliches (neuter nominative/accusative). For example: Der Bericht ist gründlich geprüft worden. Den gründlichen Berichten zufolge... Der Mann hat dem gründlichen Prüfer vertraut.

Etymology-wise, gründlich derives from Grund (ground, reason, basis) with the suffix -lich, forming an adjective meaning based on a solid basis or thorough. The inflected form gründlichen reflects standard German adjective declension rules under a definite determiner.

Usage notes: gründlich as an adjective can also appear without a determiner in strong declension (grüflich? not applicable here) or with other determiners, which changes the ending. The basic meaning remains “thorough” across contexts, with common collocations such as gründlich prüfen, gründliche Untersuchung, or gründliche Analyse.