Wiktionary

accurate

English

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Etymology

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First attested in the 1610's with the now obsolete sense "done with care", and from the 1650's with the sense "precise, exact".

Borrowed from Latin accūrātus (“done with care”), perfect passive participle of accūrō (“take care of”) (see -ate (verb-forming suffix)), from ad- (“to, towards, at”) + cūrō (“take care”), from cūra (“care”) + -ō (first conjugation verb-forming suffix). Compare English cure.

Pronunciation

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  • (UK) IPA(key): /ˈæk.jʊ.ɹət/, /ˈæk.jə.ɹɪt/, /ˈæk.ə.ɹət/
  • (US) IPA(key): /ˈæk.jə.ɹɪt/, /ˈæk.jɚ.ɪt/, /ˈæk.jɚ.ət/
    • Audio (US):(file)
  • (Indic) IPA(key): /əˈkjuːre(ː)ʈ/

Adjective

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accurate (comparative more accurate, superlative most accurate)

  1. Telling the truth or giving a true result; exact; not defective or faulty
    an accurate calculator
    an accurate measure
    accurate knowledge
    • 1992, Rudolf M[athias] Schuster, The Hepaticae and Anthocerotae of North America: East of the Hundredth Meridian, volume V, Chicago, Ill.: Field Museum of Natural History, →ISBN, page x:
      For more than 90% of the figures (mostly drawn during 1976-1990), either a scale, or the given magnification, will allow the user to derive accurate measurements, even when these are lacking in the diagnosis.
  2. Deviating only slightly or within acceptable limits.
    My horoscopes I read last week were surprisingly accurate.
  3. (obsolete) Precisely fixed; executed with care; careful.
    • 1625, Bacon, Of the Vicissitude of Things:
      for that is the fume of those, that conceive the celestial bodies have more accurate influences upon these things below, than indeed they have

Usage notes

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  • We speak of a thing as correct with reference to some rule or standard of comparison; as, a correct account, a correct likeness, a man of correct deportment.
  • We speak of a thing as accurate with reference to the care bestowed upon its execution, and the increased correctness to be expected therefrom; as, an accurate statement, an accurate detail of particulars.
  • We speak of a thing as exact with reference to that perfected state of a thing in which there is no defect and no redundancy; as, an exact coincidence, the exact truth, an exact likeness.
  • We speak of a thing as precise when we think of it as strictly conformed to some rule or model, as if cut down thereto; as a precise conformity instructions; precisely right; he was very precise in giving his directions.

Synonyms

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Antonyms

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Derived terms

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Translations

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Anagrams

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Dutch

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Pronunciation

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Adjective

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accurate

  1. inflection of accuraat:
    1. masculine/feminine singular attributive
    2. definite neuter singular attributive
    3. plural attributive

Interlingua

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Adjective

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accurate (comparative plus accurate, superlative le plus accurate)

  1. accurate
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Italian

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Adjective

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accurate f pl

  1. feminine plural of accurato

Anagrams

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Latin

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Etymology

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From accūrātus (“elaborate, exact”).

Adverb

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accūrātē (comparative accūrātius, superlative accūrātissimē)

  1. carefully, precisely, exactly
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References

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  • “accurate”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  • “accurate”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
  • accurate in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
  • Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎[1], London: Macmillan and Co.
    • a carefully written book: liber accurate, diligenter scriptus
  • Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, 1st edition. (Oxford University Press)
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