precise
English
Alternative forms
- præcise (archaic)
Etymology
From Middle French précis, from Latin praecisus.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /pɹɪˈsaɪs/
- Rhymes: -aɪs
- Hyphenation: pre‧cise
Adjective
precise (comparative more precise, superlative most precise)
- exact, accurate
- 1921, Bertrand Russell, The Analysis of Mind:
- A memory is "precise" when the occurrences that would verify it are narrowly circumscribed: for instance, "I met Jones" is precise as compared to "I met a man." A memory is "accurate" when it is both precise and true, i.e. in the above instance, if it was Jones I met.
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- (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)
- 2013 June 22, “Snakes and ladders”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8841, page 76:
- Risk is everywhere. […] For each [kind] there is a frighteningly precise measurement of just how likely it is to jump from the shadows and get you. “The Norm Chronicles” […] aims to help data-phobes find their way through this blizzard of risks.
- Antonyms: inconsistent, varying
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- adhering too much to rules; prim or punctilious
Synonyms
- See also Thesaurus:meticulous
Translations
exact
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(sciences) clustered close together
Verb
precise (third-person singular simple present precises, present participle precising, simple past and past participle precised)
- (nonstandard, used by non-native speakers or in jargon, e.g. by the European Union, transitive) To make or render precise.
- 2011, Proposal for a REGULATION OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL on the Common Fisheries Policy:
- This proposal for a new basic regulation is justified because there is a need to precise the objectives of the CFP.
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Translations
Derived terms
Italian
Portuguese
Spanish
Pronunciation
- (Castilian) IPA(key): /pɾeˈθise/
- (Latin America) IPA(key): /pɾeˈsise/
Verb
precise
- Formal second-person singular (usted) imperative form of precisar.
- First-person singular (yo) present subjunctive form of precisar.
- Formal second-person singular (usted) present subjunctive form of precisar.
- Third-person singular (él, ella, also used with usted?) present subjunctive form of precisar.
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