an open recess in a wall at the base of a chimney where a fire can be built; "the fireplace was so large you could walk inside it"; "he laid a fire in the hearth and lit it"; "the hearth was black with the charcoal of many fires"
characterized by extreme care and great effort; "conscientious application to the work at hand"; "painstaking research"; "scrupulous attention to details"
guided by or in accordance with conscience or sense of right and wrong; "a conscientious decision to speak out about injustice"