Wiktionary

precise

See also: précise, precisé, and précisé

English

edit

Alternative forms

edit

Etymology

edit

From Middle French précis, from Latin praecisus, perfect passive participle of praecīdere, from prae- (“before, in front”) +‎ caedere (“cut; strike”), cognate with English hit. Related to English incise. Doublet of précis.

Pronunciation

edit
  • IPA(key): /pɹɪˈsaɪs/
  • Audio (Southern England):(file)
  • Rhymes: -aɪs
  • Hyphenation: pre‧cise

Adjective

edit

precise (comparative more precise or preciser, superlative most precise or precisest)

  1. (loosely) Both exact and accurate.
    Antonyms: inexact, imprecise
    • 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.
    • 2018, James Lambert, “A multitude of ‘lishes’: The nomenclature of hybridity”, in English World-Wide‎[1], page 7:
      Individually, some of these definitions fall into the common definitional trap of being overly precise.
  2. (sciences, engineering, of data points, strictly) Consistent, clustered close together, agreeing with each other (this does not mean that they cluster near the true, correct, or accurate value).
    Antonyms: imprecise; inconsistent, varying
    Coordinate term: accurate
  3. Adhering too much to rules; prim or punctilious.

Synonyms

edit

Derived terms

edit

Translations

edit

See also

edit

Verb

edit

precise (third-person singular simple present precises, present participle precising, simple past and past participle precised)

  1. (nonstandard, European Union documents, transitive) To make or render precise; to specify.
    • 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.

Derived terms

edit

Translations

edit

Anagrams

edit

Galician

edit

Verb

edit

precise

  1. inflection of precisar:
    1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
    2. third-person singular imperative

Italian

edit

Adjective

edit

precise

  1. feminine plural of preciso

Participle

edit

precise

  1. feminine plural of preciso

Verb

edit

precise

  1. third-person singular past historic of precidere

Anagrams

edit

Portuguese

edit

Pronunciation

edit
 

Verb

edit

precise

  1. inflection of precisar:
    1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
    2. third-person singular imperative

Spanish

edit

Pronunciation

edit
  • IPA(key): (Spain) /pɾeˈθise/ [pɾeˈθi.se]
  • IPA(key): (Latin America, Philippines) /pɾeˈsise/ [pɾeˈsi.se]
  • Rhymes: -ise
  • Syllabification: pre‧ci‧se

Verb

edit

precise

  1. inflection of precisar:
    1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
    2. third-person singular imperative
Retrieved from "https://en.wiktionary.org/w/index.php?title=precise&oldid=84509996"