Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Clearly expressed or delineated; definite.
  • adjective Exact, as in performance, execution, or amount; accurate or correct.
  • adjective Strictly distinguished from others; very.
  • adjective Distinct and correct in sound or meaning.
  • adjective Conforming strictly to rule or proper form.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Precisely; exactly.
  • Definite; exact; neither more nor less than; just, with no error.
  • Exactly stated, defined, marked off, or measured, etc.; strictly expressed, stated, etc.
  • Being just what it purports or is alleged to be, and not something else; particular.
  • Containing or committing no error: as, a precise measurement; measuring or reckoning with extreme exactness, so as to reduce the errors in an unusual degree: as, a precise instrument or operator.
  • Exact in conduct or requirements; strict; punctilious; express; formal; over-exact or over-scrupulous; prim; precisian; also, conformed to over-scrupulous requirements.
  • Specifically, Puritan; puritanical.
  • In logic, containing nothing superfiuous.
  • Synonyms Accurate, Correct, Exact, etc. (see accurate), distinct, express.
  • Stiff, ceremonious.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Having determinate limitations; exactly or sharply defined or stated; definite; exact; nice; not vague or equivocal.
  • adjective Strictly adhering or conforming to rule; very nice or exact; punctilious in conduct or ceremony; formal; ceremonious.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective exact, accurate
  • adjective sciences Of experimental results, consistent, clustered close together, agreeing with each other. This does not mean that they cluster near the true, correct, or accurate value.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective (of ideas, images, representations, expressions) characterized by perfect conformity to fact or truth ; strictly correct
  • adjective sharply exact or accurate or delimited

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English, exact, from Old French precis, condensed, precisely fixed, from Latin praecīsus, past participle of praecīdere, to shorten : prae-, pre- + caedere, to cut; see kaə-id- in Indo-European roots.]

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Examples

  • Ginger, Smudge, George and Dusty volunteered and carried out the function in precise dress and military order.

    Work Camp 10196 L 2010

  • Cooled my heels and observed, put stacks of books in precise marching order, dropped cards on the freebie table.

    Emerald City Abides | Robot 6 @ Comic Book Resources – Covering Comic Book News and Entertainment 2009

  • Take a simple example, the mammalian middle ear, tiny bones in precise alignment that couple and amplify miniscule pressure waves.

    A Disclaimer for Behe? 2009

  • O'Sullivan's 72, starting with the remaining 10 reds unpromisingly grouped over one side of the table, was a masterclass in precise positional play and subtle thinking as he took a pink from each and added the yellow for a winning 72 only to negate this good work by missing a simple pink to let the Australian left-hander in for 59 and a 3-1 lead.

    Neil Robertson beats Ronnie O'Sullivan to claim World Open title Clive Everton 2010

  • Take a simple example, the mammalian middle ear, tiny bones in precise alignment that couple and amplify miniscule pressure waves.

    A Disclaimer for Behe? 2009

  • Take a simple example, the mammalian middle ear, tiny bones in precise alignment that couple and amplify miniscule pressure waves.

    A Disclaimer for Behe? 2009

  • Instead, he says, health-conscious consumers should focus on getting their vitamins from plant foods, such as vegetables and whole grains, which contain precise mixtures of hundreds or even thousands of compounds.

    Vitamins get 'F' in cancer prevention 2009

  • Both defended the right of Israel to exist, both condemned the violence, but Benedict XVI spoke in precise terms of the Two States; he even said that the security barrier is unacceptable and that Jerusalem has to be the capital of both States.

    Islam 2009

  • That there is some generalization of the Principle of Computational Equivalence that will somehow actually mean that with appropriate interpretation, sort of all conceivable universes are in precise detail, our actual universe, and its complete history.

    Wolfram Blog : Stephen Wolfram on the Quest for Computable Knowledge 2009

  • When we say "We can imagine", what we need to say to be precise is "We can imagine a series of variations on known developmental processes that will cause an embryo to develop into the new form rather than the old."

    Crossroads 2009

Comments

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  • Check PRÉCIS.

    June 2, 2009