precise
adjective
Simple meaning
Sharply exact or accurate or delimited.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
prihsysSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
pɹɪˈsaɪs
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
adjective
loosely
Sharply exact or accurate or delimited
loosely
Both exact and accurate.
sciencesengineeringof data pointsstrictly
Consistent, clustered close together, agreeing with each other (this does not mean that they cluster near the true, correct, or accurate value).
Adhering too much to rules; prim or punctilious.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B2 · Upper Intermediate
- Frequency
- Common
- Typical Use
- Varies by meaning
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Sharply exact or accurate or delimited
Used this way, precise is a reasonably familiar word with a clearly warm, approving pull. It turns up most in technical or specialist writing contexts.
- Emotional tone
- Positive
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Gentle
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Careful and exacting
- Usage feel
- Precise and approving
Where it naturally appears
- Technical/specialist writing
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use precise
- “Please be very precise with your measurements for this baking recipe.”
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Consistent
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Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Word family
Words built from the same root.
Indicating exactness or preciseness.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Antonyms
Sense: sharply exact or accurate or delimited
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.